OFL: Darkness Rises
by StayBeautiful1
Summary: BOOK TWO OF ONE FREAKISH LOVE: You and I walk a fragile line and I have known it all this time, but I never thought I'd live to see it break / Wasn't it beautiful? Running wild til' you ran out of speed, before the monsters caught up to you?
1. Prolouge

**A/N: Hello! Well, here it is, book two to One Freakish Love. If you have not read the first book of One Freakish Love, please go to my stories and read that one, before this one. And still review, even though its getting no more updates under that name! So, all last night, I was getting nervous about posting the update under a different name, but I'm hoping that I have some really loyal readers which will favorite and add this story to their update lists as well, and of course review. So without further a due, here's the next installment.**

Disclaimer: I, do not own the Darren Shan Saga. I only own Ronnie, and the OC's Cassie and Kayden belong to the _fabulous_ MissXMagic and RoxyPony

_A thank you to my beautiful reviewers throughout the first OFL, even if you've only reviewed once. Getting to 100 reviews was such an amazing milestone! And I hope you continue to review, you guys are amazing, and keep me going! And if you haven't reviewed in a while... come back! We need to get back to 100, again!_

**WriterPrincess94, blu-3y3s, Stefffles, InkShaper, Misty Will Black-Snape, Shanfan101, MissXMagic, Vampire Leprechaun, Jessie Shan, Slytherin Queen 1.30, BlueMoon1334, Sakura, BeautifulXMagicFAN, RoxyPony, ferretgirlsz, Darren-Shan-Fan012345678910, , Darcy Chambers, Ellie Ranesburg66, Amela333, Equify, Sapphiet, alwaysreading25, Moonlight-97, Joan, StoleTheSpider.**

**One Freakish Love:**

_**Darkness Rises**_

**Prologue**

My name is Veronica Dexter. But please, before I get annoyed, call me Ronnie. I'm a sixteen- well, was a sixteen year old girl. Now I'm probably around eighteen, but I've lost count. But I know when I'll hit twenty, and you probably ask, '_How do you not know how old you are?_'. Well the answer to that, is simple to me, but probably a hard concept for you to grasp onto. I'm a vampire. Half, actually. No, I'm not like Count Dracula, and do not '_Talk like vees!_', and sadly, to my disappointment, don't have really hardcore fangs. If you wave a cross in my face, I'll probably laugh. I have a cross bracelet of my own that I love to wear, ironic, huh? And if you try and keep me away from you with garlic, I'll probably put it on my pizza, or give you a piece of gum for your rancid breath. Another common misconception is that we will come and bite you in the jugular, sucking you until you're as dry as a prune. Wrong. Luckily for you, vampires do not kill their victims, you'll just get knocked out, and wake up feeling a little light headed. We'll only take what we need. But there are vampaneze, which you should definitely look out for. Not really hard to miss, some ugly purple mother-fuckers that will definitely take all of your blood without a second thought. Now, you're probably thinking, how is this seemingly normal girl, a vampire? She doesn't look like the typical, vampire welcoming cult member. And you're right, I wasn't. I was the typical blonde haired, blue eyed, girly girl sitting in your algebra class. Always coming to school in sundresses and cowboy boots, or any other kind of outfit that you would probably see in seventeen magazine, and accessorized with rhinestones and sparkly jewelry-your average cookie cutter American girl, that didn't want to be a vampire. But I did, because of a boy. Right now you've probably slammed your hands down on the desk thinking, '_Really! All this for a stupid boy? Girls like you are so stupid, giving your life away for some stupid boy who in a couple of months could care less about you. What kind of an idiot throws their life away for a boy!_' and if I was in your position, I would probably think the same thing, but it wasn't just a boy. His name was Darren Shan, and before he even know, I was head over heels in love with him. Ever since in the fifth grade, I kissed him on the playground. He was my best friend, and always was. But when him and his friend Steve, went to this show called the Cirque Du Freak, everything went downhill. Darren was dead, and my whole world had fallen apart right in-front of me. His best friend Steve, came to comfort me. And yes, we kissed. I'm still trying to figure out how to tell Darren that. When I went to go visit Darren's grave, I saw him alive and with an orange haired vampire, who now is my mentor- Mr. Larten Crepsley. Long story short, he told me about the vampires, and the vampaneze. And when I saw Steve for a second time, which was actually the last time I saw him, we kissed once more. Damn, I'm stupid. Yes, there was a small spark inside of me that had a small love for Steve. But that stupid little love triangle was over the second I gave away all my humanity for Darren and became a vampire myself. There was no way that I would ever choose Steve over Darren. I mean, the first time, I thought he was dead! So it doesn't count, right? I have no excuse for the second time. I'm trying to forget that happened. Especially when Steve confessed to me that he was going to be a vampire hunter, and that he would become a vampire no matter what. Basically saying, '_Hey Ronnie! So I'm going to become this power driven monster, but you can still love me, right?'. _Wrong. So, in my new wonders of vampirism I traveled to the Cirque Du Freak. Where I met so many new people: Mr. Tall, the ring leader of the Cirque, along with many performers. Gertha Teeth who could bite through anything, Cormac Limbs who could regenerate any body part after it had been removed, Evra Von, the snake boy, and Cassie. The girl who turned out to be my best friend and the captor of Evra's heart. And the one person I wish I didn't meet, was Desmond Tiny. He's this super creepy guy that makes you want to jump out of your skin whenever he was around. He put everyone on edge and I swear, pure evil lies in that man's heart. He's the type of guy that laughs in the face of crying children, and slap their ice-cream cone out of their hands, but worse. He told me about how I was going to be evil. Even though I knew deep in my heart that I wasn't. I had a destiny, to be a monster. And even though I didn't show it, it taunted me every night. I had a destiny to be either a great vampire, or one of the monsters I had despised, a vampaneze. And not just any vampaneze, an accomplice to the vampaneze lord. Once I had become a vampire, I believed that I cheated Mr. Tiny's prophecy, but there's still a chance for me to turn into that person I know I'll never be, the downfall of the clans. Now, I know that I'm really hot headed, and can be super stubborn. But there's no way to ignite rage in my soul that would have my turn on my own cla-family. When Darren and I heard it was time to leave for Vampire Mountain, I was eager to go, but felt as though I was leaving a piece of me behind. Leaving Cassie was one of the hardest things I had to do. But Darren stayed at my side throughout the whole thing. He always was there, and that's why I love him with all of my heart, soul and everything else that I have. But it turns out we have this special connection where we can communicate through our dreams, totally wicked, right? But when I had spoken to her through my subconscious the first time, she had told me that the one and only, Steve Leonard came to the Cirque, looking for me. But there was nothing I could do about it, so I decided to push it out of my mind, and focus on getting to the Mountain. That's where I met my other best friend, Kayden. Who feels like my long lost sister, we're basically the same person in a different body. Of course with our differences, but those our vastly out-weighed by our similarities. I was relieved to be able to have someone at the Mountain, now that Cassie wasn't there to help me. And now, we have to face the trials of death, Darren first, and then I. And I'm going to be there, every second, to help him through it. But this boy, that I had given everything up for, is the only thing I need. And that's why I gave everything up for him. He's the only person that can calm me down, whenever I explode and lose my temper. The only one that can put things into perspective for me, and knows me better than I know myself. He swallows his pride, whenever we fight, because he knows I'd rather die than be the first one to apologize. There's all these reasons why someone wouldn't love me- I'm a hot tempered, hard headed, closed off, smart-ass, brat. But he loves me because of all of that, I'm the farthest thing from perfect, and he takes me at my worst, and loves me at my best. When my world fell apart, he helped me put it back together, he's everything I ask for. I would die for him. He's the love of my life, and I'm pretty sure we were made for each other. But what I didn't know, is that we were made to be each other's destruction.


	2. A Walk On The Beach

**A/N: Hello readers! I'm so glad that you guys are here! Totally got my worry of starting a new story to post under! Thank you for all the reviews and adding this story to your alert and favorites lists, it really REALLY makes me happy! So, here's the next chapter!**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, the awesome OC's that you see in this belong to MissXMagic, RoxyPony and EllieRanesburg66

_Listening To: "Love The Way You Lie Part Two" by Rhianna ft. Eminem and "Want U Bad" by Travie McCoy ft. Kesha_

I held Kayden's hand in a death grip, tightening my knuckles each time a couple of seconds went on, staring at the maze at it began to fill with water. My feet couldn't keep still, shifting from side to side, my knees bouncing up and down quickly, in time with my heart that felt it like it was going to pound out of my chest at any second. I remembered the look in Darren's eyes as they attached the stone to him, I wasn't even the one taking on the trial, but just watching Darren get ready to face the watery maze made me feel like I was going to pass out. No, thats an understatement, I felt as thought I was going puke, exactly like I felt right now.

"Ouch!" Kayden snapped, glaring at me as I tightened my grip on her hand once again, "Take it easy! I need this, and if you break my hand, I'm going to have to break both of your legs!"

"Sorry." I grunted through clenched teeth. How long had he been in there? The water had been filling up for at least four or five minutes, and knowing Darren's height the water would have to be up to his lower lip by now. Tears started to gather in my eyes. Now that I've come to think of it, I've cried and gotten teary eyed more in these past couple of years than I have in my whole life. I hate crying and when people cry, and Darren's turned me into a full on bawling baby. Wait, Ronnie that's not important right now. What if he didn't make it out of the maze? What if right now that stupid rock was caught on a corner and Darren was in there struggling to get it free. I winced at the image of Darren frantically trying to release himself. But then it happened, the cinderblocks that were placed on my shoulders were lifted when I heard the _whoosh_ of water from the door opening. I looked at Kayden whose eyes were opened wide along with her mouth in a cheshire cat grin. I didn't know what to do with myself in my excitement, I let out a loud a high pitched scream and latched onto Kayden, who to my surprise joined in as we bounced up and down in our seats.

"Why are we still sitting here?" she yelled, the smile still present on her lips.

"I don't know! Lets go!" I responded standing up from my seat and following Mr. Crepsley out of the row we were sitting in, pushing him lightly on the shoulders to get him to move faster.

"Come on Mr. C, let's pick up the pace!"

I ran towards Darren with a bunch of vampires who were splashing through the pools of water, hollering and cheering as we did so. He shakily struggled to get onto his feet, outside the door of the aquatic maze, equipped with a foolish grin, rubbing the top of his head.

"You did it, Darren!" Mr. Crepsley roared, throwing his arms around him in a surprising display of affection. When I reached his side, I pulled him close to me, holding his limp weight with the strength I acquired from being blooded.

"Thank the gods!" I praised, pushing into a kiss and swiping the hair out of his face with my hand. He blinked water from his eyes, scanning all the vampires who stood around him.

"Ronnie? Mr. Crepsley? Kayden? Kurda?", he asked listing everyone who stood around him, "What are you doing at a beach in the middle of the day? You'll burn in the sunlight if you don't watch out!"

"He's delirious!" Someone hooted from the crowd, I laughed under my breath.

"Well duh! Who wouldn't be?" I grinned, smiling at Darren like a proud parent.

"I'm just going to sit down for a while." He murmured, "Call me when it's time to build sand castles. And then, Ronnie, we can go on a romantic walk on the beach..."

And with that he collapsed to the ground, laying on his back and staring at the ceiling as if it was filled with clouds, I snickered silently and began to laugh harder when I saw Kayden doing the same thing.

I woke up early in the morning, my neck was stiff because I fell asleep on the floor next to Darren's bed. Alright, I can be a little paranoid, I had to make sure that he wouldn't die in his sleep from exhaustion, even though I didn't do a very good job by falling asleep after watching him for an hour or so. I stretched, groaning each time I went up a level to standing up straight. My muscles and joints strained, I cracked my neck and shook out my arms and legs before turning towards the door. Poor Darren was probably exhausted to the point where a bomb going off couldn't wake him. I looked at him one more time, smiling to myself as I walked to the hall of Khledon Lurt and slid onto one of the benches next to Kayden. She was in a heated conversation with Kurda, Vanez, Paris and an Old General.

"You must be proud, Master Shan has done a spectacular job!" Seba congratulated. I nodded grabbing a mug of warm blood and taking a swig of it. Being in a mountain with a bunch of males for a couple of months totally swiped your etiquette from your brain. I listened for a moment, and learned about a rumor that was spreading throughout the halls, vampaneze tracks were found when one of the older vampires was arriving at the mountain.

"Two different tracks on the way to the mountain is NOT a coincidence, Kurda!" Kayden growled, slamming a fist down onto the table. Kurda jumped back a little, probably not wanting to get into the crossfire of Kayden's rage, but he still defended his purple faced friends.

"If they meant to attack us, they would have done it already!" He shouted.

"What if they want to attack us on the way back! Everything isn't black and white Kurda, there are shades of grey!" Kayden shot back.

"Why would they? They haven't attacked us before they wouldn't do so now!" He retorted, his brows furrowed and teeth clenched, I could see he was trying his hardest to hold onto his temper.

"What if it's something with the vampaneze lord?" I said under my breath, I didn't want to get into it, but of course my comment was heard.

"I believe in the myth as much as the vampaneze, but honestly, so far, I'm pretty sure it's nonsense." Kurda said softly, trying to make it a focal point of his argument. "They could be trying to get a hold of me, they are my friends and they can't just walk up to the gate. They'd be killed on sight they're probably trying to catch me when I leave."

"Alright, whatever helps you sleep at night, Kurda." Kayden grunted, "But what's with the human and the green kid that showed up today?"

"Wait, what?" I interjected, looking at her from my mug of blood.

"Yeah, some chick and this snake boy showed up this morning. They're going to be in some witness protection program or something." She answered, raising her eyebrows and then shrugging it off.

"Where!" I prodded, anxiety stirring in my stomach.

"They're in the west halls-Where are you going?" she called as I stood up and began to quickly run down the halls. I didn't even respond, I was going to find out if the people who arrived, were who I hoped they were.


	3. Cassie

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for all the wonderful reviews! Please keep them coming! It makes me so happy every time I check my e-mail and I have a review or any kind of alert at all, and definitely makes me update faster! I have the most beautiful readers anyone could ever ask for ;)**

_Thank you to everyone that reviewed: **MissXMagic, **Completely Incomplete, Sapphiet, **RoxyPony**, Amela333, Ferretgirlsz and StoleTheSpider!_

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Ronnie, and Cassie was dreamed up by the amazing MissXMagic and RoxyPony owns all the awesome that is Kayden. Amius belongs to EllieRanesburg66!

_Listening To: "Revolution Song" Fefe Dobson and "Closer to You" The Wallflowers_

_Cassie's Point of View_

Cassie hated mountains. She didn't mind looking at them through the windows of the vans on moving days at the Cirque. She actually quite enjoyed the way the sun looked whenever it sunk behind them, leaving the sky faded with brilliant pinks and yellows. But now, she hated them. The way to the mountain was one of the most challenging activities that she had ever had to do, and Cassie was a hardcore athlete. You put her in the field and she would dominate without even breaking a sweat. Each time they would come to an obstacle, Amius would let out a tired sigh knowing he would have to help both Cassie and Evra make their way. That mean scaling the enormous rock walls, twice. Swimming through the roughest rapids, twice. But finally they had made it to the entrance, with a disgusted look the guard had let in the first two non-vampires that had ever stepped foot in the mountain. It had been a couple of years since she had seen Ronnie, and she was excited. Even though Ronnie didn't change, literally. She wouldn't be hard to miss in the mobs of snarling, grunting vampires seeing that they were all guys.

"What're you looking for?" Evra murmered in her ear, wrapping his arms around her waist, closing his eyes and breathing onto her neck which made Cassie shiver. She smiled to herself, standing on the tips of her toes to try and get an overhead look.

"Ronnie, I wonder if she knows we're here." Cassie pondered.

"Nothing really gets past her," Evra chuckled "I want to see Darren though, also."

She wasn't hard to miss. Cassie smiled when she saw Ronnie coming, her white blonde hair poking through the tops of dark mops. She finally entered the hall, and Cassie was proud at the fact she still kept her sense of style, even while living in a rock. Her sapphire eyes were deep and dark as she tapped the toe of one of her boots, running her hand through some of her long bleached curls. She was still the same, other than her muscles being leaner and the new scars she must have acquired from the trip up here. Cassie felt a jolt of excitement when Ronnie's orbs instantly lightened to the color of a clear blue sky, rather than the dark ocean of before.

"CASSIE!" She emphasized, running over and swooping Cassie away from Evra and lifting her up with ease squeezing her tightly.

"Ron you... are... choking me." Cassie choked.

_Ronnie's Point of View_

"Oops." I apologized, setting her down. Living in a community of vampires, I forgot about my strength. I took a step back, looking Cassie over. I pursed my lips in confusion, she looked generally the same but she had grown. Her shape had gotten fuller, out of the teenage adolescence. Honestly, the only thing that was the same was her hair, and lily-pad green eyes.

"What's wrong?" she observed, seeing my confusion.  
"You've grown a lot, you definitely don't look eighteen!" I joked, nudging her.

"Haha, that's a good one! I see you haven't lost your sense of humor." she assumed, placing a hand on my shoulder. I pressed my lips into a straight line, and shifted my weight awkwardly, I hated being the one that didn't know what was going on. Especially when I had one of those _blonde moments._

"I don't get it." I admitted, shrugging my shoulders.

"It's been almost eight years! I'm 24 now." she revealed. Well, I guess I didn't know when I turned twenty.

"Wow," I sneered "I sure feel stupid!" Cassie just shook her head, strands of hair falling over thick, dark lashes. Even though she was older, she still giggled just like my best friend had, and still had her girlish charm. I leaned to the side, looking past Cassie at Evra who gave me a strong smile. I blinked a couple times, seeing the snake-boy was no longer a boy and evolved into man. He raised a hand waving and wiggling his fingers.

"Evra!" I roared, giving him a high-five and running through the motions of a handshake we had made years ago, apparently.

"Hey Ron." He grinned, Cassie returning to his side. "Where's Darren?" he remembered, looking around.

"Oh, he's asleep. He had a rough day yesterday, and well... it's a long story. This whole thing is a long story. I'm totally psyched that you're here, trust me. But uhm... why are you here?" I reasoned, hoping that nothing had happened to the Cirque.

"Another, long story." Cassie recalled.

"Well, good thing we have time to catch up! I'm so glad you're here!" I squealed, hugging Cassie once again, she returned my motion, latching onto me.

"Watch out Vampire Mountain, here comes trouble!" she justified, pumping a fist into the air.

"You need to come meet Kayden, let's go!" I raged, grabbing onto her and pulling her away from Evra, who just shrugged and snickered before turning on his heel and walking next to Amius. We chattered through the passages, talking as fast as we could trying to get each other caught up in the quickest amount of time allotted. I knocked on Kayden's door, as I walked in. Sure it wasn't much of a warning, but by now she was used to me just letting myself in.  
"Kade," I started, standing right next to her. She jumped, but upon seeing me leaned back onto the wall, resting her hand on her chest. "You scared the shit out of me. I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Please," I joked pulling Cassie next to me "Kayden, this is Cassie, Cass this is Kayden."

"Oh, so you're the famous Cassie." Kayden eased, placing one hand on her hip and the other extending out to Cassie who took it, shaking it firmly. "Seems like we're adding another one to the party."

"Yeah, for the time being." Cassie grinned, her eyes moving from Kayden, back to Ronnie.

"You alright?" I breathed, seeing her mood drop. Even though we had been apart for so long, I still knew her like the back of my hand, just like I did Kayden, and Darren. People always were never hard for me to figure out, that's why back in school I distanced myself from a lot of people. That saved me the trouble of being backstabbed, and lied to by the plastic, cake faces.

"Nothing, really... It's just I kind of feel out of place. Being the only different girl among a bunch of Vampires. I hate being the person that has to be treated differently, or be taken easy on." she grunted.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. When we were back at the Cirque, sometimes I even forgot that me and Darren were Vampires. But don't worry about it-"

"-I'll teach you a thing or two. Trust me, when you leave here you're going to be the most kick-ass human ever. You may not be able to do all the things we can do, but if you're up to it, you can do some." Kayden interjected, bumping Cassie with her hip who instantly brightened up, a spark of determination in her eyes. I never thought Kayden would be this friendly with someone she just met, she sure wasn't when we first became friends, but hey, I had nothing to complain about. Having my two best friends instantly get along wasn't a problem.

"I need to change, where does a girl get some clothes around here?" Cassie drawled, "There's got to be some cute stuff seeing what you two are dressed in."

"There's not a lot to choose from, but knowing you, I know you'll figure something out to wear. And Kayden over here is pretty crafty with a sword, almost as good as Truska and her scissors." I emitted, pulling on my own clothes for emphasis, "Just gotta mix and match, and then we'll accessorize and get some good stuff put together."

"Mhhmmm, even living in a rock, you still have to look good." Kayden agreed. I put my hands on my hips, seeing what Cassie made her way up to the Mountain in. Because she wasn't a vampire she was allowed a jacket and sh-

"Wait, are those my shoes?"


	4. Hay In A Needle Stack

**A/N: Happy Early Thanksgiving! I hope you guys eat as much as you can and have a good one. Let's see, what I'm I the most thankful for? Having amazing people like you who love this story as much as I do, because I really put my all into it and it's truly apart of me now. **

A thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers: RoxyPony, Ferretgirlsz, Amela333, Slytherin Queen 1.30 and StoleTheSpider.

**Let's see, time for a bribe. If I get 30 reviews, I will update in two days! Let's see if you can do it.**

Listening to "Haunted", "Enchanted" and "Story of Us" by Taylor Swift... yeah she's my favorite, you better know that by now!

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"C'mon Darren!" I hissed, keeping my voice low trying not to have any stalagmite fall from the ceiling. I looked back checking my footing on the needles as we made our way through. My trials weren't for a while, but Kayden was relentless and I agreed with her when it came to the fact that I would need as much help and experience I could get. I winced as my flesh was sliced, I was sweating beyond belief, and it was hot in the practice tunnel. Each time a drop of sweat would slide from the bridge of my nose I would pause, hoping the small droplet wouldn't start an avalanche of stalagmite.

"Just come back down here!" Kayden called, I could hear her rolling her eyes from her tone.

"No!" I objected, as Darren started to backtrack, "We're going to finish!"

"Stop being stubborn and get your skinny ass-"

"You're losing too much blood up there, we need to seal your wounds!" Vanez informed us, cutting Kayden short.

"Come on, Ron." Darren spoke softly, calming me down in my newly found frustration. I took a deep breath and backtracked through what I liked to call the path of needles test course, and landed on the ground with a light thud, as I jumped from the entrance.

"You weren't gripping hard enough." I heard Vanez scold Darren from my spot of Kayden striding around me, examining my newly torn openings.

"It's like gripping onto a rod covered in WD-40!"

"That's why you must grip harder."

"But it hurts, I'll cut my hands to shreds if I-"

"Which would you prefer?" Vanez shot back, "Bloody hands, or a stalagmite through the heart?"

"That was a dumb question." Darren groaned.

"Well, you're going to be cut to shreds, so make peace with it now and stop crying about how you're never going to be able to play the piano again!"

"I can't play the piano anyways..." Darren sassed, looking over at me. I took in his appearance, it probably hadn't changed to anyone else, but I knew his every detail like the back of my hand. He was still lean, and slender, but more cut than he ever had been. I could see the muscles in his neck from what I guessed was him clenching his teeth, because his jaw was strong and distinct. Along with his arms which had to be my favorite part of his change, I liked his new strength, it made everything from his kisses, to his warm embraces a little more powerful. He was maybe to have aged a year but his eyes were aged a lifetime. They were tired, and stripped from all of their innocence that I took for granted. His hair fell onto his face as he examined the deep gashes on his palms, I couldn't help but smile when I saw the expression on his face. It was the same expression he had when something he planned went wrong, the same expression he had when for my 13th birthday he tried to surprise me by having balloons tied on my chair when I went into each one of my six classes. But each time I walked in, they were always tied to the seat next to mine, and he would have to go and untie the balloons from the partner seat and place them on mine, and had the same look on his face. Eyebrows pushed together, lips slightly pursed into a pout.

"Hello, earth to Ronnie!" Kayden waved a hand in front of my face, the other filled with herbs. She grabbed my hands and rubbed the herbs into the cuts. I sucked in air through my teeth, jerking my hands back.

"Ow Kayden, what is that?" I whined, holding my wrist.

"Quit being such a baby, it's to help you heal." She sighed, tugging my hands back and finally finishing by wrapping my hands with guaze.

"You're done for the day, go get something to eat." I heard Vanez dismiss Darren. My heart dropped to my stomach as Darren came behind me, swooping me from my feet and placing a couple of kisses on my neck. I turned around and frowned, running my fingers across the cuts on his faces.

"Ouch." He whispered. I raised my eyebrows, pulling my hand away quickly.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, a smirk appearing on my lips. I stood on the tips of my toes, lightly placing my lips on each cut before arriving at his lips, which greeted mine hungrily. He let out a playful growl lifting me up as I wrapped my legs around his waist, my giggles muffled by the kiss.

"Are you two done yet?" Kayden huffed, Darren set me down and I spun around quickly on the balls of my feet. It was easy to get distracted whenever he was around, and the world just was non-existent whenever I returned to the safety of his arms. I must have, no matter how impossible it may seem, forgotten about Kayden's presence.

It was nearing sunrise when we made our way to the dining hall. I smiled and felt a pinch of familiarity when I saw Cassie turned towards Evra, her eyes holding the same kind of love you saw when an old couple was walking down the street, unconditional, caring, kind and timeless. She was smiling brightly, grabbing pieces of bread from off the table, ripping off small pieces and pushing them into her mouth. We must have been a sight for sore eyes, as Darren, Kayden and I walked into the hall. The strong presence of the general being surrounded by limping, patched up, still bleeding half-vampires.

"What happened to you two?" Evra asked, raising a brow above his golden eyes.

"Looks like you got in a fight with one ANGRY cat." Cassie joked, her teeth showing as she peeked at the gashes under the gauze.

"Yea, more like trying to find a piece of hay in a needle stack." Darren laughed sarcastically.

"No, seriously." I finished, sitting down next to Cassie, Darren's hand lounging protectively on my thigh, showing his possession- well somewhat possession, to the male vampires around him.

"So, any news on that crazy vampaneze after you guys?" Kayden asked nonchalantly, passing me some bat broth and a mug of warm blood. Cassie shuddered, she wasn't used to seeing vampirism in the open, because when we were at the Cirque we went off and drank once everyone was asleep, instead of chugging blood out of mugs.

"Anastasia? No, Mr. Crepsley is talking to some of the princes to try and get something arranged, they're going to contact Mr. Tall and see what they can do." Evra sighed, the poor guy, Darren and I had gotten him into more trouble than he ever imagined he could get in. Darren and Evra began talking, jabbering on about things I had no interest honing in on, thankfully Kayden was right beside me in my distance.

"I really think you have a good chance of passing the trials. But this isn't training Kayden anymore, I'm your friend Kayden, so how are things holding up?" She smiled, quickly changing back into my sister figure instead of the single expressioned general that was barking orders at me, pushing me further than my limits. I instantly reddened when I saw someone step behind her, she frowned when she saw the quick change in my mood.

"What is it?" She asked, more annoyed than nervous.

"Kayden," Arrow started, placing a hand on her shoulder. I looked down at my broth, trying to stiffle a laugh when Kayden's eyes looked as though they would almost pop out of her head.

"Uhm, hello Sire." she greeted, getting up from her seat the fastest I have ever seen anyone move, vampire or human.

"Would you mind taking a walk with me? I need to speak with you." He invited.

"Of course."

* * *

Cassie rocked backwards on my bed, her legs folding out from their indian styled position and sprawling out on my bed. I didn't like sleeping in a coffin, or a hammock because of the fact that I moved a lot when I slept, so I would abruptly wake up in the middle of the night due to the contact of my face to the floor, and a coffin was too restricted. Thankfully Seba arranged getting me an amazing bed with a light canopy, that probably had the softest covers I had ever felt.

"I don't know how you do it." Cassie admitted, pressing a palm to her forehead.

"Do what?" It was cool having my best friend there, it felt as though we were in my tent at the Cirque Du Freak, when the only problem was Mr. Crepsley being on what we liked to call his man-period and yelling at me for no reason, or not having an outfit to wear for the next show. It was insane how my problems skyrocketed to another level of complication.

"Go through all of this stuff, it's like everyday you, or Darren are in some sort of peril."

"Mhm."

"I mean, if I had to watch Evra go through things that he may not survive, I don't think I could handle it! And thankfully you're not the typical damsel in distress." Cassie leaned up giving me a wink, I grinned before pushing a stray curl out of my face and resuming to speak,

"I just don't think there's any use getting worked up or worrying about something I have no control over. It'd just be a waste of time and energy that I could be focusing on somewhere else, you know? It's not like me doing or saying anything could possibly change or help the situation in any way."

"Exactly, it's surprising how you always know what to do."

"I don't half the time, honestly."

"Yes you do, or at least you're really good at faking it!"

"Well, you know me, I'm a great actress." I joked, Cassie just rolled her eyes. I missed our conversations, even though I could contact with her through my dreams, the connection was well- sketchy.

"But let's shimmy away from the sad situations, shall we?" Cassie offered, I nodded eagerly. "Who was that guy that Kayden got all nervous around today? She almost jumped out of her skin when she saw him!"

"Oh I know!" I gushed, "That's Arrow, he's a Vampire Prince."

"Dreamy," Cassie approved, "In a rough, bald, Kayden-suitable way."

"He totally has the hots for her, but she's a Vampire General, so she can't just go on and be flirty, their titles make things kind of difficult."

"But you've already started to figure a way to get around that, haven't you?"

"Cassandra Thompson, you know me too well. Am I really getting that predictable?"

"Oh boy, you're a clever one, you know that? I see that look in your eyes, when those gears start turning," Cassie had sat up and placed her finger on my forehead, "and sometimes, I get kind of nervous!"

"Oh hush up."

* * *

"So, you've seemed to have bonded with the new girl, am I correct?" Arrow asked, turning his head to look at Kayden. She felt as if though her tounge was swelled and she wouldn't be able to give him a direct answer. It was the invisible sweat, and clammy feeling of her palms, the feeling that she hadn't gotten since she was human- gods know how long that was, and on a date with one of the local boys, that had her so infatuated with Arrow.

"Yes, you could say that." Kayden smiled to herself, Ronnie and Kayden had gotten along better than she had expected. Whenever something was wrong Ronnie was the first one at her door, with something in hand that would instantly make her feel better. The young half-vampire was unpredictable and Kayden loved how easily excited the girl would get, and of course a wit that matched hers.

"And her and the other boy, they're mates?" Arrow prodded, leaning against one of the cave walls in the perfect position that showed his tattoos and cuts of muscles, causing Kayden to swoon silently.

"Basically" Kayden nodded.

"That could be very dangerous," Arrow shook his head, looking down at the ground, "If something happened to one of them, the other could go into total mental breakdown. It's not always good when you're that dependent on someone."

"Yes," Kayden agreed, "But you have to understand they were turned together. So it's obvious that they were each other's support, I've never seen two people so deeply passionate, crazy, confident and committed to eachother-"

"-that's exactly what could be dangerous."

"Come on, Sire you can't tell me you don't admire that in two people that are so young." Kayden tried her hardest to not step her boundaries, "don't you ever want that love again?"

"I think I may be starting to believe that I will have it." He smiled slightly, and causing Kayden to die a little inside, his eyes were honest and caring and she couldn't believe what he had just said.

"But, the prophecy Desmond has presented to us is a distinct one. We have kept it from Larten, due to Tiny's orders and you must keep to your position and not speak this to anyone. But the girl may go stray from the path of light, there's a darkness in her, that could be easily brought out by rage and start a wildfire for both the plans and well, if a certain chain of events is set off and that happens" he paused, trying to pick his worlds carefully "I don't know how to say this-"

"-What is it, Sire?" Kayden pushed eagerly.

"You'll have to kill her."


	5. When Did You Know?

**A/N: Hello! This chapter is more of another look into Ronnie and Darren's lives when they were human, before they were changed. And I was laying in bed wondering these things, I thought it out and decided you need to know too. Okay, so I got 30 reviews, so now I'm updating! Isn't it great how that works? Reviews equal to faster updates, imagine that! So keep on updating! If I get to 40, maybe something special will happen? ;)**

A thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers: **RoxyPony**, MOONLIGHT-97, **MissXMagic**, Amela333, Rocky181, Hayley and _!

_: More Steve action is very, very close in the future! ;)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything but Ronnie, you better know that MissXMagic and RoxyPony own Kayden and Cassie.

_**Listening to: "Haunted"(Will be featured in a future chapter) and "Enchanted" by Taylor Swift**_

* * *

"This is KILLING me!" I groaned through my fingers that I had shielded over my eyes, Darren was working through the Path of Needles and once again, I was a wreck. "I can't breathe." I gasped, putting my head into my hands to try and keep the room from spinning.

"Maybe your corset is too tight, I told you not to wear that!" Cassie joked from beside me, I turned my head to the side pressing my lips into a straight line. She placed a spare hand on my shoulder, the other was secure in Evra's grip, and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Don't worry, he'll be fine."

"You don't know that," I mumbled, turning to the other side I saw Mr. Crepsley, who looked almost as flustered as I had. Kayden had been acting unusually distant, when I asked her how things with Arrow went, she told me that she would tell me when she came back from feeding her goldfish. And it was already too late when I realized that she didn't have a goldfish, no one in the mountain did. I have to make a mental note to go and drill her for information after this.

"Wait, there he is!" Evra cheered as Darren made his way out of the cavern, bloody and bruised.

"I told you he'd be fine." Cassie grinned as we progressed forward, Darren leaned against one of the cave walls breathing heavily, I saw his eyes searching the crowd and his lips parted into a smile when his gaze rested on me. I walked over, and decided against hugging him seeing all of the wounds.

"How was it?" I chuckled, his face darkened and he let out a small grunt,

"Just peachy." Vanez came from behind the crowd and swooped him away to get him rinsed off and bandaged up. It was now the dawn before the festival of the undead was going to begin, but before I was going to begin to think about what to wear, I had to find out what was wrong with Kayden. I bowed my head to a couple of vampires on my way over to Kayden's room I didn't hesitate as I pushed her stone door out of the frame.

"Kayden you dirty liar, you don't have a goldfish, how stupid do you think I am?" I wailed, searching around her room.

"Obviously dumb enough." she mumbled from a pillow where her face was pressed.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked, sitting down on the edge of her coffin.

"Nothing, I told you that."

"Well, if it was nothing, the last thing you would be doing would be laying in your coffin during Darren's trial. Did something happen with Arrow?" I got her there.

"No, nothing happened."

"Well then what's your major malfunction?" I snapped, my temper starting to flare. Nothing bugged me more than trying to help, and then getting shut down.

"Obviously if I could tell you Ronnie, I would!" she countered, eyebrows pressing close to eachother.

"Alright, fine. I'm not going to care anymore." I breathed, looking down at my hands.

"I just can't tell you, and I'm just stressed out, okay? Can we just talk about something else?" As if on cue, Cassie busted into Kayden's room, obviously the knock before entering didn't apply here.

"What are we going to WEAR!" she cried, placing her hand over her forehead for dramatic effect. I laughed, the tension instantly fading from the room and the girl-talk starting.

* * *

I looked over at Darren in his hammock, his eyes were closed and his arms were wrapped around his bare chest which was covered in pink tinted bandages.

"I know you're standing there, you little creeper." he mumbled with a smirk, almost causing me to jump out of my skin. His eyelids fluttered open as he pulled me onto his hammock, which rocked back and forth threatening to spill us both onto the ground.

"I didn't want to wake you up!" I defended, turning towards him, trying not to get too close in the fear of hurting him, but he threw that out the window by pulling me close and placing a kiss on my forehead after pushing my bangs out of the way. His eyes rested to close,

"I wasn't asleep, too sore."

"When did you know you loved me?" I blurted.

"Where did that come from?" Darren chortled, not opening his eyes.

"Well, I'm just curious. I mean, even though you didn't know it, I've had a crush on you ever since the fifth grade. But I didn't know that I _loved_ you until I was about 13 when we were at Sarah Kahlan's boy-girl party and it was the first one and such a big deal." I paused chuckling at the memory, at how timid and afraid I was. "And Shellie and Bianca called me out in front of everyone, trying to say that I told Sarah that Nick- well, they lied and when I stormed out, you came after me when everyone stayed. And you missed out on the first big party to sit at my house and watch old slasher movies with me." I hated asking questions like this, it's kind of like the annoying girl whose always asking 'Why do you love me?' that really gets on my nerves. But I was curious, and it was an honest question, not a cry for some reassurance of Darren's affection.

"Well, I always liked you," Darren started smiling at past memories, "but I loved you the second I saw you."

"Oh please," I rolled my eyes, "We met when we were like, seven!"

"Let me finish," Darren frowned, "I fell in love with you the second I saw you when you came back from vacation with your family, when you were gone the whole summer."

* * *

_Darren's Point of View_

_It was the last day before the summer ended, I fumbled around with my hands in my pockets looking around Steve's house. It was almost six o' clock and Tommy's brother was about to pick us up to bring us to the fair down at the central park. Steve bolted down the stairs, jumping past the last couple of steps in some sort of effort to save time. _

"_Alright! I'm ready!" he boomed, looking in the mirror and running his hands through his silver hair._

"_Trying to impress someone?" I joked, he turned around with a sideways grin._

"_You never know, maybe some hot chick from another country will be there."  
"Uh huh. Sure Steve, keep dreaming."_

"_You know, Ronnie's back from California."_

"_How do you know?" I jumped at the statement, I shook my head trying to recover, "I mean, really? I wish I could have gone to California all summer, this summer was boring." _

"_Sure Darren, keep trying to cover it up." Steve mocked, being cut short by a car honking outside. "Let's go, you know Tommy's brother never waits longer than 30 seconds." _

_The park was covered with people, the loud chattering was joined by the sounds of games being won and the rickety roller coasters. I searched around the grounds each time we made it to another section of tents.  
"Hey! There's Ronnie!" Alan pointed out, "Ron!" he called over towards the ferris wheel. My heart rattled in my rib-cage when the seas of people parted and I saw her. She jerked her head around quickly to her name, eyes bolting from side to side before finding us. I sucked in a sharp intake of air when she raised her hand above her head, waving it from side to side. Her long white and golden mixed blonde curls were pushed back with a crystal headband, exposing her pools of bright blue light. She was deeply tanned- more than usual- from the California sun, her white sundress swayed at her sides as she trotted over, cowboy boots clunking in the dirt. She thinned out, her face and body rid of the childhood chubby-ness. She was lean, her legs seemed as though they went on for days, but her torso was still short. Her boots gave her an inch, but without them she probably stood around 5'3" making her a little taller than most of the girls in our class. Her body wasn't as developed as most of the other girls around, but I could see subtle curves in her hips that weren't there when she left at the end of the year. _

"_Hi guys!" She grinned, the lights from the ferris wheel lighting up her silhouette giving her a subtle glow._

"_Wow Ron, look at you! You're not a little kid anymore. What'd they do to you in California?" Steve praised, heat rose to her cheeks._

"_Nice to see you too, Steve." her voice melodized, as she threw her arms around him in a friendly display of affection that she repeated for Tommy, and Alan. "Darren," she began, hugging me also, "I missed you."_

"_It's great to see you, Ronnie." I managed to verbalize, blinking as if trying to clear my vision. I always thought Ronnie was a pretty girl, and she was my best friend. No matter how much I denied it, I always had a crush on her. But for some reason, I was nervous- even more nervous than I was around her._

"_I changed? Look at you, you're a stud now." she winked, making my words fumble together more. I saw Steve look from Alan to Tommy and then back to me._

"_I want to go get something to eat, I'm starving! Just meet us over at the burger place, Darren." he waved, Alan and Tommy following behind him._

"_So," Ronnie started, rocking back on her heels "It's weird that we're already going into high school, time flies." _

"_Yeah, it sure does. How was California?" _

"_It was great, I mean I missed home, but it was a different experience. I got to sing at a couple of open writer's circles at a couple of cafe's there, so that was cool. But I also got a lot of perspective on things."_

"_Like what?" _

"_Well, for one, I'm done trying to make other people happy and I'm going to do more for myself. Two, boys are stupid and all they do is lie. Not you, of course. You wouldn't lie to me, right Darren?" _

"_Never." I promised, she smirked._

"_I also learned to never believe someone who promises something that's impossible to keep." I grunted, trying to assemble something that could help me bounce back again._

"_You haven't changed a bit." I laughed, throwing my head back.  
"I'm glad you think so. A lot of people that I've seen are treating me different already. They're mean... dumbasses." she mumbled, moving a rock with the tip of her shoe. My forehead creased, it wasn't surprising that she would already be a target to some of the other girls and some guys. What people said was wrong with her were false statements fueled by envy. I couldnt imagine hurting her, and that's what I saw in her eyes, even when they were angled towards the floor. I wanted to reach out and pull her to me and tell her not to care. She changed on the outside but no matter what to me, she was flawless. Even though she was hot headed, hot tempered and sometimes a flat out dork, she didn't play the air headed fool like the other girls claiming to be stupid, with things they knew. She had logic, and was strong willed and painfully honest. She wasn't dependent, she was strong and clever. The things that sent most guys in the opposite direction and towards the easier choice of females: ones that were the same as all the rest. What sent them away send me running towards her, trying to catch up. _

"_Well, I won't treat you any different." _

"_That makes me feel a lot better. If you did, I'd have to kick your ass."_

_

* * *

_

"That day?" I gawked, it was crazy how far we had come. We were always able to talk about everything, but I never imagined us to be sitting here, talking about this. We were older now- in a twisted way, being mentally in our mid twenties but physically around sixteen or seventeen- it had been a while since we just had a conversation like we had when we were teenagers; totally harmless and really without a purpose. He just nodded his head and hummed,

"Mhm. You did change a lot, but even though you looked totally different you stayed completely same and having you gone for a whole summer and then coming back and still being so familiar totally had me in awe. And you made me mad, whenever I would say something and I thought it was right, you would switch it around and make it the wrong answer. When I thought I had you figured out, you would do something that sent me right back to square one to try and figure you out again. But that's why I fell in love with you. You were familiar, and different than anyone I had met before, you were never boring or predictable. Whenever I was with you, it was like the most exhilarating feeling ever, you're an adrenaline rush. You were breath taking and original and made me absolutely mad. Just like you still do."

"Alright, I'm kind of sorry I asked now." I snickered, looking up at him and seeing his eyes were now directly locked on mine.

"I love you, Ronnie. You're the best thing that's ever been mine."

"I love you more than you could imagine. _If anything happened to you, I think I'd go insane._"

**A/N: Ack, I don't feel too great about that chapter. Halfway through I started to kind of fall asleep, but REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW anyways even if it is crap! :) **


	6. Its a Love Story & You Should've Said NO

**A/N: Wow! 40 reviews! This fast! You guys are seriously the best! Yes, this update is earlier than scheduled, and because you all are so amazing not only am I updating today, I'm going to update TOMORROW! Two in a row! See, good things happen when you review! So, hang in tight, things are about to get... crazy.**

**Ronnie's look for the Festival is inspired by Taylor Swift in the Love Story music video, when she's singing by herself in the castle. She looks so elegant, and I've wanted to put Ronnie in it forever! I know that during the festivals the vampire's dancing is very... robotic. But to make my romantic vision come true, I wanted them to be good dancers! Okay? Okay.**

Thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers: StoleTheSpider, _, Rocky181, CarlTheLlama, Amela333, hpluvr, I-love-Freddy, Hayley, Ferretgirlsz and RoxyPony!

Your reviews mean the world to me, thank you **so much** and to everyone whose ever reviewed before, even if just once, or from the beginning! If you haven't reviewed since the first OFL, we're missing you back here ;) but here's a thank you, to you. : _WriterPrincess94, blu-3y3s, Stefffles, InkShaper, Misty Will Black-Snape, Shanfan101, Vampire Leprechaun, Jessie Shan, Slytherin Queen 1.30, BlueMoon1334, Sakura, BeautifulXMagicFAN, Darren-Shan-Fan012345678910, Darcy Chambers, Ellie Ranesburg66, Equify, Sapphiet, alwaysreading25, Moonlight-97, Joan._

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but Ronnie. You know that MissXMagic and RoxyPony own the amazing other OC's!

Listening to: "Last Christmas" Taylor Swift and "Dear John."

"Psttt." I pressed my eyes closed as I felt a finger prod my arm. I scooted around a little, trying not to give away that I was awake. I felt Darren behind me, his arm wrapped around my waist and breathing lightly.

"PPPPPSSSSTTTTTT." Another prod in the arm, a little harder this time. I slowly let my eye lids flutter open and suppressed a smile at Cassie who was trying her hardest to be quiet and hold in laughter. She put a finger over her lips and motioned me to come with her. I lifted up Darren's arm, which was heavy even though he was asleep but limply fell back to his side after I loosened my grip. He breathed in quickly, mumbled something along the lines of 'Crepsley, put down the matches.' and then turned to the side, giving me the opportunity to prop myself up and off the hammock. My legs fell limp beneath me, and I felt a little dizzy from getting up too fast. But there was no time for recovery when Cassie was on the move. I shook my head, grabbing Darren's cloak, since I wasn't able to find mine and following her out of the room. Once we were out of earshot, I jogged up to her pace.

"What's the rush! You know I love my sleep" I yawned, "This better be good."

"Today's the Festival of The Undead." She stated, quickening her pace.

"Yea, I know that. But what's the rush?"

"Kayden was telling me how the other girls come and wear long dresses, and this is like a big fling." she cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow, "You think that I wouldn't jump at the opportunity to get us all dressed up?"

By the time she was finished with that statement, we were in Kayden's room. Who was looking over an arrangement of gowns, makeup and various accessories that were laying over her bed.  
"Where did all of this come from?" I gushed, running over to the sparkly side of the accessories. Living in a rock kind of left you feeling deprived when you had a love of sparkles and shiny things.

"Well, I convinced Amius to escort me out of the mountain so I could get all of these," Cassie waved a hand over the accessories and make-up, "And then fabric so I could throw these together." she grinned, lifting up the three gowns on a hanger.

"Wait, you made these?" Kayden asked skeptically. I gave her a nod, shrugging my shoulders. Cassie was a fashion wiz, I should have known that this was coming.

"Yup!" she bubbled, "I went on Evra's border's account and got Fierce Style by Christian Siriano, which gave me some inspiration and tips to make these. As for sizing, I know you probably better than you know yourself, and after seeing you so much and trying on all your clothes I have your basic measurements down. As for Kayden, she's basically the same size as us, I just did a couple of tweaks here and there, and tah dah!"

"Well Cass, there's no other describe these just like you... fierce." I smiled as I looked at the long, victorian styled gowns. "Well, time to get ready! Let's do this!"

Due to the lack of power outlets, we were restricted to using a bunch of hair products, old fashioned curlers and battery powered blow dryers and such. But it was a length to go through, especially since there was NEVER any occasion to get ready for. Cassie sat me down, as Kayden was in front of the mirror, pulling her already almost straight hair through an iron to give it a polished, done look. Cassie pulled the curlers out of my hair, turning my loose, sometimes not so perfect curls into long spirals. I felt her let out a couple of 'pffts' and 'hmmms' as she rummaged through. Shoving in endless amounts of bobby pins and spraying fatal amounts of hairspray. She pushed my back by my shoulders, finishing her look with a headband and turning me towards the mirror.

"Wow, this looks great." I gawked. My hair was pulled up in the back, in a style that looked like a jungle of gravity defying curls. What wasn't pulled up were a couple small wisps of curls that hung in various places mostly in the bottom and sides. My bangs were parted in their usual spot on the side and fell across my forehead. Finally it was finished with a delicate gold and brown headband that shimmered, even in the dark cave light. When we were finally ready, I looked over at Kayden and Cassie, not really paying attention in the rush of getting myself ready. Kayden wore a long red dress that draped to the floor, with a plunging neck line and inch wide straps that held in up on her shoulders. Her golden-auburn hair was sleek and straight and fell over her shoulders, bangs pushed enough to the side to expose her eyes which were smokey and extravagant. Cassie patted herself putting on the finishing touches, her gown long and emerald. It hugged her curves, with a halter top with long sleeves that exposed her chest and shoulders, her back was still visible even through the corseted top. Her hair fell in waves, not taking anything away from the strong connection of the shocking green dress and her eyes. Finally I stepped back, looking at my own dress. The color was in between white, and a tan taupe, with a design in the center down to the waistline. Due to the corset design of all the dresses it was tied tightly in the back, sucking in my waist and ribs. The neckline was straight across, with the thin straps that hung off of my shoulders. My bare neck and shoulders had a necklace draped over to make it not look so bare. My eyes were brown and somewhat smoky, more natural than Kayden and Cassie's dramatic makeup, even though I had less, my eyes still stood out a violent blue.

"Wow, we're going to cause a couple of heart attacks." Kayden snickered, looking at the three of us in the mirror.

It had taken us such a long time to get ready, we missed the opening speech of the festival which would have Mr. Crepsley not very happy with me. But I was thankful because we missed the hectic part of the festival of screaming fighting vampires. Which I kind of wish I didn't miss. It was probably fun. With one more approving nod, and touch ups from Cassie, we were on our way down the halls.

_Darren's Point of View_

It had been five hours since the festival started, and still there was no sign of Ronnie anywhere. It was like her to be late, but not normally this late. And the fact that Kayden and Cassie were no longer to be found made me especially nervous. The many vampires danced around, light on their feet twirling around each other hooked onto each other's arms now that there were as many female vampires as there were males now. I took in a deep breath when they came into view, all of them glowed but of course my eyes drew straight to Ronnie. She smiled sheepishly when my eyes connected with hers, the bright blue I never grew tired of. She lifted her dress up like a fairytale princess as she walked over, trying not to step on the fabric as she walked down the small array of stairs.

"Hi." she beamed, as Cassie broke away from her side to go towards Evra and Kayden was making small talk with Arrow.

"You look, amazing." I breathed, looking her up and down, her cheeks turned a pale pink. "Can I have this dance?"

She nodded as I took her hand, and led her onto the dance floor. I never felt so happy in my whole life as I pulled the small of her back close to me and we glided over the dance floor. I was happier than ever, but of course that was destroyed, worse than it ever had been before.

_Unidentified Point of View_

Kayden smiled as Arrow walked over to her,

"Kayden, you look absolutely stunning. If that's not too bold to say." he stammered trying to sound professional as possible. Kayden just grinned, grabbing his elbow and pulling him onto the dance floor, the Festival had started and that meant there was no business or boundaries to overstep. She looked up into his eyes as she felt his arms around her waist, she knew he was trying to be catious but that only flattered her more. His face was flustered as Kayden just looked down, pressing her face into his shoulder.

Cassie looked as amazing as ever, no matter what she wore she could never look anything less than spectacular to Evra.  
"Well, Mrs. Von you cleaned up pretty well." He joked, pulling her into a kiss that he never got tired of.

"You don't look too bad yourself." she answered, the typical playful banter that she never got tired of. The music didn't give them any desire to dance, she was more than conforatable standing still as long as she was in his arms.

"I love you." he assured her.

"That's nothing new," she joked, "I'm just kidding. I love you too."

_Darren's Point of View_

Ronnie was standing talking to Mr. Crepsley who was standing next to Arra, I didn't know what they were talking about, and I couldn't care less. She looked spectacular, especially when I was looking at her from a distance, even though I'd rather be right by her side.

"She's spectacular, isnt she?" I heard a cynical voice admire, only a voice that could come from one kind of evil. When I turned around, I was face to face with Desmond Tiny.

"What do you want?" I asked, alert and more afraid than anything.

"Oh nothing at all, Master Shan," he started, looking at the organ clock in his hand, he let out a chuckle that sounded more like a death march than a flowing melody like Ronnie's. "I'm just messing with you. I came here to tell you, that things are going to get... complicated."

"And?" I pressed, loosing my timid manner. I was sick and tired of his games.

"Well, your next trial is coming up, and I can't alter the path of well- fate. But there is one thing that you have to do, to ensure the safety of the people around you and Ronnie, mostly. To keep them alive."

"What do you mean? What's going to happen?"  
"Calm down," he snapped, "Do you want everyone important to you to die? I don't think so, so hold your tounge when I'm telling you how to prevent that you idiot of a boy!" He collected himself and once he regained his composure he began to talk again, even though the scowl on my face was still present.

"Your next trial is going to be a big deciding factor in this little scheme destiny-" he stopped to chuckle once again, "- I have constructed. Trying to keep this short, Ronnie cannot be tied to you in any way during this, she has to leave the mountain and set on the path she's supposed to walk on."

"What do you mean? Do you want me to get her to leave the mountain?" I spat, wondering why no one has come to look for me, and every time I looked to the side, Ronnie was still in my view, beautiful as ever and laughing, unknowing of the conversation I was having.

"Well, you can't simply ask her leave. Are you good at acting, Darren?" I didn't respond, so he pressed on, revealing the punchline in the sick joke he had made of our lives.

"You're going to have to break her heart, send her out, drop her from where you've held her so highly. Tear her to pieces. And she has to believe that it's all real. Or else your chance of getting her back to where you are now will be gone forever. And not only will the chance of that will be gone forever, so will Kayden, Cassie, Evra, Mr. Crepsley and you beloved little Veronica. All of them will die. Do you understand?"

**A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed towards the end... none the less I hope you like it! Review, review please! **


	7. Can't turn back now, I'm Haunted

**A/N: Seriously, I think I have the best reviewers ever! Just like I promised, here's the special treat update for you! I knew this day would come when I thought out the whole plot for OFL, but it's so sad. I hope the emotion shows through, it sure made me cry! But it has to be done. There isn't much Cassie and Kayden in this chapter, but don't worry they're not going ANYWHERE! I'm not good with lemons, or whatever they're called. Just too awkward to write... so use your imagination.**

Thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers: Hayley, RoxyPony, Sapphiet, Rocky181, BlueMoon1334(Welcome Back!), Fettergirlsz and MISSxMAGIC!

Disclaimer: You already know what I don't own and who owns what. The song used in this chapter is called "Haunted" by, you guessed it, Taylor Swift!

Listening to: Christmas Music!

The Festival was still at it's height, I sat down at one of the tables, picking at my dress. I smiled when I looked through the crowd and saw Kayden and Arrow standing by a vat of beer. She was holding a mug in her hand, and even though she looked at elegant as ever, she was cheering loudly looking over Arrow's shoulder as he went through a line of mugs on the table. Draining each one dry before moving to the next one, I shook my head laughing to myself. Turning a little more to the side, Cassie and Evra were speaking softly to each other, exchanging small kisses in between sentences and beaming as they always did. I was apparently, an amazing match maker. I searched around the room, my eyebrows scruntched together and I felt lines crease in my forehead as I searched for Darren. My heart did it's usual skip as he came into view, but instantly stopped. Something was wrong. I stood up, making sure my dress wasn't stuck in any crevasses before advancing towards him.

"What's wrong?" I asked, startled that he didn't take me into his arms like he normally would.

"Nothing, Ronnie I-"

"Hey you guys! Why aren't you drinking!" Kayden cheered, a mug still in her hand. She grabbed us and threw us down at a table.

"I don't really handle alchoho-"

"I challenge you two." Kayden smirked. You couldn't refuse any challenge during the Festival, and Kayden had gotten us pinned. I smiled to myself, since I couldn't refuse, I decided I might as well enjoy it. Mugs were placed in a line infront of Darren and I, and the same amount was placed infront of Kayden and Arrow on the other side of the table. Cassie and Evra walked over to where everyone was crowded.

"Oh boy, this isn't going to be good." Cassie giggled, she wasn't a drinker herself due to her parents and the stupid party goers, she just didn't want to take part in it. She didn't mind if anyone else did, especially if it was for a big occasion. She knew that the vampires wouldn't get _too_ out of control and burn the mountain down.

My head was spinning. If I was human, from all of the alcohol my body had taken in I would have died right then and there of poisoning. Sure, Arrow and Kayden had drained their never ending line of beer before us, but Darren and I were close behind, so by the time they had won we were past the point of no return.

"Are you okay?" Cassie asked, snuffling in a laugh. I lifted up one of my arms, which felt _really_ heavy, and gave her a wobbly thumbs up.

"Okie dokie!" I hiccuped, looking over at Darren who was possibly more gone than I was. I couldn't remember anything- what I had done this morning. How I had gotten into this dress... which looked kind of funny-

"I think it's time for you two to retire to your room." Evra intervened, his arms on Darren's shoulders.

"What?" I interjected, "Why?"

"It's time to go to sleep." Cassie agreed, helping me stand up.

"I'd be surprised if they even knew their own names," Evra chucked in a hushed tone to Cassie, "they're going to have one hell of a hangover."

"Fine Mom and Dad." Darren breathed as they brought us back to my room.  
"Goodnight drunkards!" Cassie signed off, closing the door behind her. I looked around the room, I started to get a little more sober, but definitely not enough to be even remotely aware of the fact that Darren was acting strange. And obviously he couldn't remember either. He leaned forward, crashing his lips into mine. I laughed as he daintily kissed down my neck. That night I gave Darren the last piece of me he didn't already have, the last human piece of me, the last of my innocence.

My head was throbbing, I let out an agonizing moan when I sat up, placing my head in my hands. The last night was a blur, other than the last event which I was reminded of upon seeing my long gown thrown on the floor. I felt for Darren beside me, but frowned when all that came in contact with my fingers were empty sheets. Still warm from his body, he must have gotten up and went to go eat. I put the stabbing pain in my head to the side as I slid on a loose, long sleeved dress that Cassie had created for me. I shook my curls out, some still in ringlets that just blended into my usual relaxed curls.

"Goodmorning!" Kayden grumbled through a piece of bread. I just replied with another stressed moan as I sat down, "Come on, amateur!"

"I never want to drink again." I responded, looking up at her. "Where's Darren?"

"He's training for his next trial tomorrow, you two slept for like two days." She raised an eyebrow "Were you sleeping?" she concluded with a wink. The sore pain in my thighs returned,

"Oh man, I almost forgot."  
"That's what Cassie and I thought!" She laughed, throwing her head back. "But his trial is tomorrow, he told me to tell you to go to his room when he's done. Which should be any time now."

"I guess I better go, then." I dismissed, standing up and giving her a wave. I walked through the halls, seeing the rummage from the Festival being cleaned up. The first night, wasn't even the night at all, turned out within all of the madness we hadn't even noticed the days and nights go by. I peeked in, seeing Darren standing with his back to the door.

"Hey," I smiled as he turned around. I leaned to kiss his lips, but was startled when he turned his face to the side, dodging my gesture.

_You and I walk a fragile line, I have known it all this time, but I never thought I'd live to see it break._

"What's wrong?" I asked, stepping back. He bit at his lower lip, his eyes were angled at the ground. For the first time, I couldn't read him. He was empty, and his eyes jumped back and forth as he went through his mind in search of words.

"Ronnie, you know I care about you." he started, his voice cracked and was barely above a whisper.

_It's getting dark and it's all too quiet, and I can't trust anything now, and it's coming over you like it's all a big mistake._

"Darren, what's going on?" I struggled, my heart dropped and I hoped that this wasn't going where I thought it was. He took in a deep breath and began to speak again, using a finger to grab one of my hands that was hanging at my sides.

"I have been thinking for the past couple of weeks. And what we do, it's hard. And you've been holding me back, from doing a lot."

_Ohh, I'm holding my breath, won't lose you again, something's made your eyes go cold._

"What are you talking about?" Tears started to cloud my vision, but I forced to keep them back.

"I'm saying that I don't think we should be together anymore."

_Come on, come on don't leave me like this, I thought I had you figured out_

"You're just a distraction to me."

_Something's gone terribly wrong, you're all I wanted._

"If I want to go on, I have to do it without you."

_Come on, come on, don't leave me like this, I thought I had you figured out._

"You're just too much to handle. Your temper and how hard headed you are, now I see it's not something that you can just look past. Ronnie, you're too much for anyone to be able to take care of."

_Can't breathe whenever you're gone._

"And to get straight to the point."

_Can't turn back now._

"I don't love you anymore."

_I'm haunted_ _Stood there and watched you walk away, from everything we had._

Darren pulled his hand away from mine and turned to walk towards the door. I was awestruck, I didn't even know what emotion to feel. I just stood there with my mouth open, stunned and stuck. My heart was gone, I felt nothing inside of me. Just an empty hollow person, everything felt like it was gone. Thought's started rushing through my head, every that had happened to us, every little thing that we had gone through he had just thrown to the side, and destroyed.

_But I still mean every word I said, to you._

I walked out of Darren's room, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes with each step I took. I didn't even feel my body, I felt like I was in a daze as I walked back to my room. Once my door was in view, I saw Cassie and Kayden's smiles fade as I bolted into my room. I heard their feet quickly following behind me as I finally surrendered to the tears. My chest, along with my back heaved as I sobbed into the floor. I felt as if I couldn't cry enough, I couldn't get whatever was inside me out. I screamed, clawing my fingers into my hair.

"What the hell happened?" I heard Kayden panic, her arms wrapping around me.

"Ronnie, what's going on?" Another pair of arms swooping me into them.

"Darren- he." I stammered, trying to force my words out through gasps of air.

"He WHAT?" Kayden growled.

"He left me." The tears crashed out again, images flashed through my head. Late night kisses, all the trouble, the words that were spoken. They didn't mean anything to him, and he hurt me more than anything that had ever hurt before. My mind stopped in it's tracks when it fell on Steve, 'I'd never hurt you, Ronnie. Ever.' his words bounced off my brain.

_He would try to take away my pain, and he just might make me smile, but the whole time I'm wishing he was you, instead_.

I loved Darren with all of my heart and gave him every piece of me. The things he said were like a fatal blow each time they rolled off his tounge. I heard Cassie hush me and run her fingers through my hair, through my tears I could see Kayden looking down on me. Her face was scrunched in pain, anger and the most powerful emotion I felt, confusion.

_Oh, I'm holding my breath, won't see you again. Something keeps me holding onto nothing._

I fell asleep after hours of crying. My eyes were puffed and red, and black streaks were down my face from the leftover makeup of the festival. When I awoke a blanket was clutched in my hands, and Cassie and Kayden were right next to me, sitting up asleep with their hands on my back. Instantly the tears returned even after just being awake for a couple of seconds. I just replayed him walking away, leaving, after breaking my heart- more like setting it on fire, throwing it into the ground and doing it all over again.

_Come on, come on, don't leave me like this. I thought I had you figured out, somethings gone terribly wrong, you're all I wanted._

Today was the day of his trial, I took all of strength and sat myself up which awoke Cassie and Kayden. "Are you okay?" Cassie's eyes were of pure sadness.

"As okay as I'll ever be." I whispered, getting dressed and wiping the black from off and under my eyes. My eyes were swollen and still pink, making the pale blue seem as if it was glowing unnaturally.

"Let's go." I called to them at my door, waving a limp hand that was at my side.

"Where? You're not talking about going to see his trials, are you?" Kayden shot, appalled at the fact I wanted to go watch the event take place.

"Yes." Kayden bit her tongue as Cassie just nodded and grabbed onto Kayden's wrist giving it a rough squeeze. No matter what I did, I couldn't think about what had happened, I wanted to know what triggered it, what I had done wrong.

_I know, I know, I just know. You're not gone, you can't be gone. No._

"Let's jus-" My voice broke, squeaking a little as the tears engulfed me again, making my whole torso shake. Cassie grabbed me and pulled me into her as I sobbed into her arms,

"You don't have to do this Ronnie. You don't have to prove anything to anyone." she cooed. I stood up straight, wiping the tears with the back of my sleeves.

"Let's go."

When we walked up Darren's trial had already started. His eyes connected with mine, and even though I didn't want it to, my heart jumped the same way that it had done before. But he just gave me a cold stare and looked back to the last boar that he had to kill.

_Come on, come on don't leave me like this. Won't finish what you started._ _Can't breathe whenever you're gone, can't go back. I'm haunted._

His life flashed before my eyes as the last boar went to finish him, I composed myself and kept a straight, stone cold expession. Harkat jumped from the stands, saving Darren's life. The crowd was outraged and Mr. Crepsley came up next to me.  
"This is very bad." he mumbled. I shrugged, not answering.

_You and I walk a fragile line._

I packed what I had left of my belongings, I couldn't stay in the mountain, no matter what I wanted to do, there was no way I could go on with my life staying here. Cassie and Kayden begged me to stay, but I told them that I had no other choice, I may come back. But they would just have to understand, Cassie cried and held onto me and tight as I held to her, not wanting to be apart again. Kayden was more angry than upset, but locked me into an embrace. Her body surprisingly shook with sobs, which she instantly rubbed away when I looked at her.

_I have known it all this time._

The trial, was the last thing I would see at the mountain. Darren stood with his head held high, even though he knew what was to come. When the Princes condemned him to the pit of stakes I saw the pain flash through his eyes. Mr. Crepsley roared in protest, but the Princes quickly silenced him. Once Darren was back in his cell, Mr. Crepsley walked up to my side.

"Ronnie, I know that you are upset, but you have to-" he panicked.

"I'm not upset."  
"What?"

"I don't care."

_But I never thought I'd live to see it break._

And with that I was on my way to the exit of the mountain. I didn't look behind me as I left the clan and Darren behind. I ran, I ran as fast as I could. I didn't stop until I was at an old town, and my legs wouldn't go any further. I gasped for air as I fell to the ground once again, sobs quaking inside me. Everything had fallen apart, I had left my human life for Darren. And he became my life as I became a vampire, and now it seemed like my world was gone. I was hurt, exhausted, alone and not wanting to go on. Footsteps approached from behind me, I wasn't too worried, I just looked like a young girl. Lost, alone and broken. They would just think I had lost my parents and place sympathy on me, and I would probably send them limping away after releasing some of the rage that began to appear in the absence of my heart.

"Ronnie?" I lifted my head up, not turning around.

"Steve?"

_Never thought I'd see it._


	8. Sushi Aid

**A/N: Wow, the feedback to the last chapter was OUTSTANDING! Thank you all so much for the reviews, it really means a lot to me! And I'm glad to see, well not glad but I'm glad to see that it made you as sad as I did! I must have portrayed my emotions pretty good! Well without further ado, the next update! Thank you, thank you again! I hope I can keep delivering. I've been waiting to say this forever!**

**Team Steve, or Team Darren? ;)**

A thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers, who really outdid themselves last chapter: _, MISSxMAGIC, ferretgirlsz, BlueMoon1334, Rocky181, Sapphiet, RoxyPony, Hayley, I-love-Freddy, hpluvr, Amela333, Carlthellama, LilBat54, AlwaysReading25, xsuperxsadistx, MOONLIGHT-97, Slytherin Queen 1.30!

Disclaimer:I don't own anything other than Ronnie. You know the usual drill, the super fierce owns Cassie and RoxyPony owns Kayden and all of her awesomeness.

* * *

"Steve?" I choked, not turning around from my seated position on the floor. My heart still screamed from inside of my chest, but suddenly stopped when I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around me and bring me to my feet. Steve pulled my head into his chest, where I surprisingly began to sob once again, my emotions not able to contain themselves. I couldn't believe what had just happened, I hoped that this was just a sick, terrible dream and that Darren would shake me awake any second. But he wasn't going to, this was real. I had seen the person I loved so much, turn into something I never thought he was capable of being. Steve pushed my shoulders back to get a better look at me, his brows scrunched together. He held my face in his hands, running his thumbs under my eyes to wipe away the stray tears. I wondered when he would realize that I was supposedly dead, and I barely looked like I had changed in the years I was supposed to be dead.

"Wait a second..." there you go, Steve. "Why are you here? I thought you were a vampire?"

"The truth is, I'm really a vam- what?" I gawked, shocked at the fact that he didn't ask me what I expected.

"I know that you're a vampire, Ronnie." Steve snickered, he hadn't changed one bit.

"Wait, how?" I pulled away from his arms, but he quickly grabbed me back as if he thought I would vanish if he let me go. I remembered him telling me about him being part vampaneze, so I was kind of on edge. But the familiar feeling I felt around him was something I didn't want to let go.

"I'll explain, but let me take you back to my place, and get you cleaned up, okay?" His eyes shined with pure sincerity, and honestly if it was a trap or something I could care less. It's not like there was anything that I had to live for anymore, at least that's what it felt like. I nodded my head limply and followed as he basically pulled me down the street my hand firm in his grip. I dragged my feet on the floor, I was exhausted from all the running and not eating. He let out a grunt as he shoved a key into the lock of the door in an apartment building.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Steve grinned, shuffling a hand through his hair. I ran my hand over a pair of couches, and forced a weak smile, I felt like I was never going to be able to truly smile again.

"Do you want something to eat?" he asked, I shook my head and his eyes widened. "Wait, did YOU, Ronnie, just say you weren't hungry?" A giggle escaped my lips, and I guess I proved myself wrong. Steve was able to make me laugh, even when I was in- what it felt like- was the darkest hole I had ever fallen into.  
"Yea, I just don't feel like doing anything." My voice trailed off, I knew that he was going to ask me what happened, but for right now I was going to put it off for as long as possible. "But I do feel like taking a shower, mind showing me in the right direction?" Steve just nodded, shuffling through the his drawers to give me a towel and then pointed me in the way of the bathroom. I let out an exasperated sigh as I let the water run, steam filling the room. That's one of the things I missed most at Vampire Mountain, the opportunity to take a nice, warm shower. I slid off my clothes and held the tattered bit of Darren's cape in my hand, I looked around the room and threw it in the corner sinking it straight in the trash can. When I stepped into the shower tears silently fell from my eyes involuntarily, I refused to let myself sob especially when I should be enjoying the warm welcoming shower. After a long amount of time, I reached for the towel and squeezed my dripping wet hair with it and then tied it around my body. I swiped my hand across the foggy mirror, and stared at my reflection. The girl looking back at me was one I had never seen. Her eyes were empty and her face was alarmingly pale, due to the moisture her thick lashes were bunched together, the whites of her eyes were tinted pink and the skin around them was swollen from tears. Damp blonde waves fell in front of her face, and when she pulled them out of the way she looked devastated and alone. I shook my head and walked out of the bathroom, a smile spread on my lips when I saw that Steve had left out one of his large hoodies and a pair of boxers. I rolled my eyes imagining the comment he was going to make seeing me in his garmets but I had no other choice. I stepped into the pair black boxers, rolling over the waistline a couple times so they fit more snug. I couldn't suppress my relieved sigh as I pulled the large sweatshirt over my head, I hugged myself and let out a low 'ahhhh,' as I stretched in the newly found warmth, my lower back cracking. I shook my hair with my hand and flipped it a couple of times, it was already starting to dry and form into blonde spirals. I stepped out into the living room,

"Nice, I could get used to this." Steve commented raising a brow, I snorted. I called it! "I got you something to eat while you were in the shower." he shoved a white take out box towards me as I sat down on his couch crossing my legs.

"Steve, thanks but I'm not-" My lips pulled into a wide grin and Steve smirked, he had gotten me my absolute favorite. My band-aid in food form. He knew I couldn't refuse. "-is that sushi?"

* * *

The Mountain was unusually quiet. Evra, Cassie, Larten and Kayden all sat along a wooden table in the Hall of Khedon Lurt, silently sipping at bat broth and their mugs of blood.

"This is bull shit!" Kayden finally boomed, slapping her hands down on the table.  
"Kayden, watch your tongue!" Larten snapped, not in the mood for any of this right now.

"Don't even start with me, Larten!" Kayden glared, "Isn't this weird to any of you? Ronnie's **gone.** And you all are just sitting here sipping your bat broth like nothing is wrong in the world!"

"That's not the only problem, Darren is going to die!" Evra snarled, on edge. Sure he cared that Ronnie was gone, but now he was going to have to watch his best friend die.

"I don't care about that little jackass." Kayden answered, Cassie placed her arm on Evra, calming him down.

"I can't really choose sides, without knowing what had happened. Yes, Ronnie is my best friend and what Darren did to her was wrong. She's my best friend and I can't believe that she just left. And trust me," Cassie paused making eye contact with Kayden, "I am pissed. But am I the only one that smells something a _tiny _bit fishy?"

"All I smell is a bunch of bull-" Larten shot Kayden a glare, "poop."

"There is nothing that we can do, I came in here with two assistants and now I have none." Larten frowned.

"Boo hoo." Kayden sassed under her breath drinking the warm blood from her mug. "Have you talked or dreamed with her, at all?" Cassie just shook her head,

"I haven't gotten any sleep at all since she left, and I just feel that she hasn't either." she had gotten used to the fact of the connection between the two of them. Just like she surprisingly gotten used to the fact that she was conformable living temporarily in a Mountain due to a sadistic vampaneze tracking her and her snake-husband down.

"Sires! Sires!" Someone busted into the hall, running up to the Princes who were sitting at another table, a dark expressioned Kurda trailing behind him.

"The boy, he escaped!"

"Oh great," Kayden groaned, standing up knowing that she had to go on duty due to her general position. Before they all went into a huge frenzy, Cassie spoke up once more,

"Before we say anything," she piped up, looking around, "where's Gavner?"

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	9. Brace Yourself

**A/N: I know, I'm sorry! I didn't update at ALL last week, it was just super busy and I had no chance to! I hope you can forgive me! But, on the plus side I put a little update schedule on my profile so you know when to expect updates and all that good stuff. Uhm, let's see.**

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**collaboration 'How The Girls Stole Christmas!' **

**Now thats all out of the way, here's the next chapter! THANK YOU, for all the reviews, please keep them coming!**

A thank you to my _beautiful _reviewers, I love you all. Seriously: hpluvr, hayley, LilBat54, Sapphiet, Milkshakes'n'Kitkats, BlueMoon1334, Amela333, Moonlight-97, RoxyPony, Ferretgirlsz, AlwaysReading25

Disclaimer: I only own Ronnie, that's all! "Last Kiss" belongs to no one other than Taylor Swift.

I sat back, smiling stupidly as I held the box of sushi in my hands. Steve just watched me as I picked up the first piece and happily shoving it in my mouth. I closed my eyes and let out a moan of pleasure, the grin still present on my lips. I felt my posture ease into the couch, and I relaxed.

"Good?" Steve smirked as I looked down at my now empty box of food. I let out an awkward chuckle as I placed the empty container down on the coffee table, instantly the rush of emotions that were temporarily put to the side came and slapped me across the face.

"Yea," I breathed, pulling my knees to my chest "everything's good."

"Want to tell me what happened now?" He leaned forward, resting one of his hands on me. I looked up and took in his features. It had been a long time since I'd seen him and since we had reunited I hadn't had time to really let it all sink in. His eyes were still the same dark, powerful hazel that right now, were calm and concerned. But I know in a second they could turn to hold a wild rage, filled with hatred. Strands of hair fell onto his forehead which he frequently pushed out of the way. My eyes followed down from his strong jaw, high cheekbones to his full pout on his lips.

"Ronnie." he beckoned, pulling me back from my thoughts, I shook my head and blinked a couple of times.

"Sorry, what do you mean? Nothing happened." I lied, trying to swerve away from the topic.

"Where's Shan?" he prodded. Oh god, Darren. Now, instead of slapping me in the face it all came and hit me like a semi-truck. The tears threatened to spill, before realizing that there were none left. I knew that I would have to explain it to Steve sooner or later, so I might as well do it when I don't have any tears to cut me off.

"Oh, Darren," I started casually, shrugging my shoulder and biting my bottom lip. "He's dead."

Steve's eyes widened and he stood up slowly to stand and sit next to me on the couch, where I moved to the side to make room for him.

"Ronnie, I'm so sorry." he frowned, but I just shook my head, my newly dried curls shaking along with it.

"Don't be sorry, I don't care." The words sounded harsh, but there's nothing that I could do. That was the only way to get around it.

"What do you mean, you don't care? What happened?"

I told him everything, starting from when I was blooded all the way to Vampire Mountain, not forgetting a word, a feeling, nothing. I told him about when I went into Darren's room expecting the usual but instead I was pulled apart from every angle. And how I was left there, feeling like I was attacked, broken in pieces on the floor while he just walked away and left me there. I told him how I felt, what I thought, I told him what I never said out loud before, and what I never planned on saying. Then he told me about what happened after I left, and when he was turned half vampaneze. He said that things didn't work out well with his mentor, and even though he didn't mind killing people, he'd rather kill the big villains that killed more than they needed to. Something was off, but I was too distracted and honestly didn't care enough to notice.

"And now, here I am." I concluded, surprised that my cheeks were dry and I wasn't shaking like I normally would be. I hated what I had become, a lost puppy that ran away with it's head down and it's tail between it's legs.

"What a jerk-off." Steve mumbled, chewing at the inside of his cheek.

"My thoughts, exactly." I nodded, crossing my legs indian style, and holding my ankles, swaying back and forth.

"Well, is there anything I can do to help? I don't mind killing anyone." he smirked mischievously.

"Thanks, but no thanks." I let out a soft laugh, he looked to the sides and then back at me.

"Well, I told you I'd never hurt you" he started, leaning forward. When I didn't move back, he scooted a little closer. I felt his hot breath on my lips, and I closed my eyes. "Would it hurt you, if I kissed you?"

It would hurt, more than anything. But it was the first step to leaving Darren in my past, and being me, kind of a way to get him back. One last time. I shook my head weakly and he leaned forward the last inch, connecting our lips. He grabbed me and pulled me into his lap, pulling the arch of my back as close as possible to him. I locked my hands on his sides as he laced his fingers in my hair, the kiss getting deeper and deeper which surprisingly made me feel a little light headed. He bit at my lower lip, and I could feel his biceps tighten around me. With all of my last power, I pulled away and pressed my forehead against his, eyes still closed.

"I need to get to sleep." I huffed, out of breath. He just nodded his head, a cocky smile painted on his face. When I stood to walk away, he grabbed my wrist, twisted me and kissed me once again. The corner of my mouth pulled into a sideways grin as I made my way over to the door where I'd be sleeping,  
"Tomorrow, I need to go get some new clothes." I stated, looking down at my wardrobe. Steve put on a fake frown,

"But why? You look so good in mine." he whined.

"Goodnight."

"Night."

_I still remember the look on your face, lit through the darkness at 1:58. The words that you whispered. for just us to know. You told me you loved me, so why did you go away?_

I sat in the middle of the makeshift bed, stripping the large hoodie off and sitting on the bed in my strapless sports bra that Cassie had made me wear with my dress. Kayden said that I barely had boobs, what was the point of false advertising? Cassie claimed that, even though I didn't really have any, I had to flaunt what I had. Cassie and Kayden... I shook my head, I didn't want to think of anything that would make me more upset that I was. I traced my lips with my fingers, my eyes adjusting to the dark room.

_I do recall now, the smell of the rain. Fresh on the pavement, I ran off the plane. That July 9th, the beat of your heart. It jumps through your shirt, I can still feel your arms._

My eyes looked over to the corner of the room where I had laid Darren's cloak. After showering, I went back and retrieved it from the trashcan. I walked over, my bare feet barely audible on the wood floor. Leaning over, I pulled the cloak out of the trashcan and stared at it. I pulled wrapped it around me and slid to the floor, the tears engulfing me once again.

_And now I'll go sit on the floor, wearing your clothes. All that I know is I don't know how to be something you miss. Never thought we'd have a last kiss, never imagined we'd end like this. Your name, forever the name on my lips._

_I do remember,the swing in your step. The life of the party, you're showing off again, and I roll my eyes and then you pull me in. I'm not much for dancing, but for you I did. Because I love your handshake, meetin' my father. I love how you walk with your hands in your pockets. How you kissed me when I was in the middle of saying something. There's not a day I don't miss those rude interruptions._

But this time, once the tears ceased I felt that it was time for them to finally stop. There was nothing that I could do and it was time for me to pull myself back up into shape. I could be here, alone. But I found Steve and even though it felt wrong now, and could never be the same, maybe I could love again. Maybe Darren would let me, I knew that he wouldn't care if I did or not. There was nothing I could do, he was dead. And if he wasn't I would have to make him wish that he never left me. I was hurt and there was nothing that I could do about it. Keyword in all of this, nothing. I had to roll with the punches, the hard, brutal, unforgiving punches. But this all is making me stronger, and I had to make peace with this, before starting the new chapter in my life. If he was alive, I'd want him to be happy. Even if it was without me, so that I could be happy too.

_So I watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep,a nd I feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe. And I keep up with our old friends just to ask them how you are, hope it's nice where you are._

_And I hope the sun shines, and it's a beautiful day. And something reminds you, you wish you had stayed. You can plan for a change in the weather and time, but I never planned on you changing your mind._

I stood up, folding his cloak and smiling as I thought about the last time we were together, laying in his hammock. His last kiss on my lips, his last smile, and his arms around my waist. I sucked in a deep breath and rubbed the back of my neck and braided my curls to the side. Tomorrow I was going to wake up, and go shopping. Not so bad, right? Right, I was going to live life, for now, with Steve. And be a little bit normal again, and kill whoever needed to be killed. It was time to turn my back on everything, and move forward. I would remember when we were sitting there, by the water. And he put his arm around me for the first time, he made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter. And now I had to leave behind the best thing that's ever been mine.

**A/N: This was a... meh chapter. I know, I know. Enough with the song-fic's already. But they all fit so good! Cassie and Kayden aren't gone, and they wont be! They'll be the biggest part in the next chapter, cause we're gonna have a time jump! Yay! Review, review, review and maybe, I'll update sooner? Who knows, things happen.**


	10. Black, No Shades of Grey

**A/N: I'm so sorry guys, I feel like I haven't updated in forever! It's my winterbreak right now, so honestly I'm sorry if the reviews aren't on that schedule. And everyone is hectic and all over the place during Christmas time, you know? IM TRYING AND ILL TRY I REALLY WILL.**

**So just so we're thinking on the same thing, the version of Steve I like, is the Josh Hutcherson version, yummyyummyyummy. So that's how this Steve looks, but older and hotter if that's possible. ;)**

**Check out me and RoxyPony's story, TVF:How The Girls Stole Christmas, it's really cute and witty and funny and I'm writing parts of it and stuff and all that jazz!**

_**I'm sort of in a rush, but thank you to my BEAUTIFUL reviewers, you know who you are! And more reviews, may get a faster update! But I can't make any promises, I promise to list you all next chapter :))**_

I groaned loudly, twisting my head from side to side. My neck sore from bending my head over and staring into the porcelain makeshift sink.

"Son of a bitch," I cursed as I fumbled to pull all of my strands spirals under the running water, but instead slapped my head on the faucet.

"I don't know how I feel about this," Steve entered the room, munching on what seemed to be a doughnut from the gas station down the street. I never knew with him, whether it be breakfast for dinner, or dinner for breakfast. But I definitely didn't care enough to look into it.

"I like you just the way you are, I like Ronnie color not-" he lifted up an empty container off the floor and leaned against the wall, crossing his ankles as he read the bold print, "'amber chocolate'."

"What's done is done!" I called back from the sink, wincing a bit as the water started to rinse clear.

"But I don't know if I'm going to like you anymore if you look like this."

"Shut up and hand me a towel."

"I don't think I can, I'm kind of scared."

"Steve!" I stomped my heel to the ground, and hit my head on the faucet once again. Steve snickered and I began to laugh out of pure frustration.

"How does it look from where you are?" I quizzed, my back now screaming from straining and bending over to lean in the sink, and pressed the towel against my still soaking strands.

"Fantastic."

"I'm talking about my hair."

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I could see if it you got your face from out of the sink!"

"Okay, okay." I sighed, slowly raising my upper body to meet my own eyes in the mirror. Damn. Dying my hair was a not so very well thought out decision. It had been almost a year that I was living in the city with Steve. We decided since we both didn't want anything to do with either of the clans, to try and live normally. At least until it was obvious that neither of us were getting older and suspicions were raised, but we decided to cross that bridge when we came to it. In the meantime, whenever there was a threat to the city, like people getting sucked a little _too_ dry, too often we took care of it. And if you're sitting there thinking the reasons why I would go and do this to my hair, which would make Cassie and Kayden probably shit, it felt like the last step. Ever day I had gotten further and further away from Darren, the memories started to not be so vivid and finally accepted the fact that they had to stay in the back of my mind and become faint. I thought that this would finish the change that made me the new, over it, ready to rumble Ronnie. But it didn't, tears started to well up in my eyes as I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked like a totally different person, thankfully when I became a vampire it kept my sun kissed skin tone, so I didn't look painfully white. But my eyes now seemed to be a different shade of blue, the new dark curls bringing out different undertones.

"Oh my god, I look terrible!" I wailed, enter Ronnie panic mode. I looked into everything way too much, and thought everything had such a big impact when it honestly didn't even matter at all. Not only did I have a terrible temper, and a case of OCD that would send a hoarder running for the road, I suffered from super high anxiety.

"Well, you do look different." Steve squinted his left eye, and pursed his lips. "But it doesn't look terrible... maybe it'll look better after you get yourself put together." I shot him a rough glance, "I mean, it looks great. But I mean we need the full effect!"

"Yea, yea..." I started trailing off, talking to myself.

"And when you're all ready we'll go to sushi."

"Steve, why do you think taking me to get sushi is the answer to all of my problems?"

"Well, isn't it?"  
"Kind of."

I trotted into my newly acquired bedroom and looked around, I definitely had to stay away from dark colors, I wanted to stay as far away as I could from looking emo. But my lips pulled to a frown when I realized that's basically all that I wore, warm tones. I shook on a pair of dark jeans and tucked them into a pair of heeled black boots, leaning over I secured them with a black belt and gave it a pat once I slid it through the loops. I grabbed a grey and black shirt, paired it with a necklace and then pulled over a leather jacket. Sighing, I looked at myself in the mirror, my cascades of platinum spirals now replaced by thick bronze ones, and put on the rest of my makeup.

"Okay, this isn't so bad." I smirked, liking my new dark, more intimidating and sultry look. I no longer looked like the little girl that I felt like inside, I looked more hardcore.

"That's not bad at all." Steve raised a brow and smirked, putting his arms into my jacket and locking them around my hips. Whenever Steve was by me, it was a different feeling than how I used to feel with Darren. But none the less, I felt. He was a walk on the wild side and always had me on my toes, his witty remarks always trying to outmatch mine, it felt like I was always out of breath. Probably because he never stopped, but he would slow down, only to tell me to keep up. Falling in love with him was like standing on a ledge and having someone inch me further and further to jump, to fall. I giggled and wrapped my hands around his neck, pushing my hips against his and pursed my lips.

"So, you still like me?" I joked, but he just rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, acting indifferent. Instead of speaking he stared into my eyes and did that mischievous, almost evil sideways grin that literally made me weak at the knees. He pressed me roughly against the wall and connected his lips to mine. I felt his hands grab onto my hips as I returned his kiss with the same passion, playing with the hair on the back of his neck. He bit at my lips, and pulled my hair before pulling himself away, almost gasping for air. I looked up at him and smirked,

"I take that as a yes."

The foursome stared at Steve and Ronnie walked out of the house, giggling and joking with eachother.

"What the hell did she do to herself!" Kade gawked.

"What do you mean! What do you see?" Cassie called from back in the alley way, Kade being Kade was taking all of the view of their friend.

"She dyed her hair! Wait, is that even her?" Kade squinted to get a better look, "Oh no, that's not her. But that's her- and YES! She did dye it! Thank god she wasn't that one girl I was looking at, red is not Ronnie's color."

"That's it?" Cassie rolled her eyes, "I thought it was something super drastic."

"Thank you for keeping some perspective, Cassandra." Larten poked in.

"Like she cut it all off, or something!" Cassie dramatized, and Larten just snorted because obviously he had spoken too soon.

"How does she look?" Darren mumbled from his spot leaning against the wall, the last thing he wanted to do was see Ronnie. Especially after what had happened, it had been such a long time and so much had happened. He was now a Prince, and lived with wolves for gods sakes! He knew the last thing she would do would run back to him.

"She looks great, eat your heart out, buddy." Kade snapped, she still had some hard feelings. Even though she knew the circumstances, apparently she wanted Darren to 'grow a pair, and slap des-tiny on a totally different path'.

"Is she alone?" Darren prodded.  
"No, she's with some guy. And not going to lie, he's pretty hot." Kade raised her brows up and down, "that girl finally got some good taste."

"Enough, Kayden." Larten drawled. "Wait, he the evil one!"

"Evil who!" Kade searched.

"Thats," Cassie blabbered, trying to search through her head to find the name... names always slipped her mind.

"WHO IS IT ALREADY!"

"STEVE!"


	11. Baby, What About The Ending?

**A/N: Sorry for the late update, guys! Just because it's winter break, and I'm off school it's been pretty hectic! But once school starts, of course it's going to go back to normal! So here's the next update! **

Thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers: Moonlight-97, **RoxyPony**, Amela333, AlwaysReading25, Sapphiet, **MISSxMAGIC**, BlueMoon1334, StoleTheSpider, xXGirlShanXx, Slytherin Queen 1.30, **FerretGirlsz. **Your reviews honestly keep me going, keep them coming, please!

Disclaimer: I only own Ronnie, Cassie belongs to the amazing, Red Rocking MISSxMAGIC. And Kade belongs to my amazing Twin, RoxyPony. I also don't own "If This Was A Movie", By Taylor Swift. But I sure love to play it myself!

The foursome followed them closely, but not too close of course. Darren's heart dropped every time Ronnie would turn and smile at Steve. Her eyes sparkled, just like they used to. But it happened only when she looked at him. He didn't even know what she would do if she saw him now, but soon he was about to find out. Each time he would grab her hand, or wrap her arms around him it was like a stab at his heart. Her laugh was like a haunting, twisted melody of memory and pain. The clicking of the heels on her boots kept in perfect rhythm with their steps, watching. Ronnie stopped and looked at Steve, who just stared at her, jaw tight in the cold weather.

"Wait a second," She started, Darren looked at Mr. Crepsley, whose eye's widened and held out a hand for them all to stop walking. Cassie slowed her pace, and Kayden slammed right into her back.  
"Ouch! Watch where you're going, Kade!" Cassie whispered, snapping her head around.

"Sorry! I wasn't paying attention!" Kade argued back in a hushed tone, "My bad."

"What is it?" Steve asked, placing his hand on her forearm. To the group's relief she reached in her pocket and held up a hair-tie.  
"I thought I left my hair-tie at home." She grinned, giving him a shove as he rolled his eyes. Pulling her hair to the side and taming her newly dark curls into a side pony tail. She tied it into place and pulled out her bangs and short pieces to lay out on her shoulders. The group continued to follow them as they walked into the center of the town, which was lit with bright white lights. It instantly made Darren remember the time he first saw her after that summer, Cassie placed a hand on his shoulder seeing the pain on his face. He just nodded and pressed his lips together, this was a lot harder than he thought. They strolled down the sidewalk, receiving looks from other pedestrians on the street.

"Oh, hey Ron." Steve stopped, looking into one of the stores, "I'm going to run in here real quick-" Ronnie cut him off with a grin,

"Alright, I'll meet you over at-"

"The guitar store, I know." He smirked. Darren felt his temperature rise again, the fact that they were so familiar with each other and had grown so close to the point where they could know where one another was, really made him angry. But it was because he felt forgotten, until he realized he couldn't be mad. He was the one who left _her._ Kayden looked over at Darren, and smirked,

"Don't take it personally, anyone would know that's where she'd be." Mr. Crepsley looked over at the group as Ronnie and Steve pulled into a kiss and broke off.

"We need to keep an eye on the Leonard boy, come on." He ordered, but Darren looked over his shoulder at Ronnie as she stopped at the street, shaking her head as she looked before she crossed. The lights illuminating around her and giving her the same glow as she had always had to Darren. Mr. Crepsley looked at his student and rolled his eyes,

"You keep an eye on her, and we will meet back when those two do as well."

"That's not creepy, at all." Kayden snorted, but Darren just ignored her and followed Ronnie's footsteps. He waited as she walked into the store, the clerk looked over at her and smiled.

"Hey Ronnie, going to look at it again?" He acknowledged as she walked towards an enclosed room labeled _Acoustics._ She bobbed her head up and down, turning on her heel and walking backwards as she talked to him.  
"Yeah, but only for a little!" She chuckled, the owner nodded and turned his attention back to his crossword puzzle. As she entered the Acoustics room, Darren entered. His eyes looking at the variety of bass, and electric guitars that were mounted on the walls and hung from the ceilings.

"Can I help you?" The owner asked, surprised to get this much business at this time at night.

"Oh no, just looking." Darren lied, pressing his hands in his pockets. The owner leaned over the desk,

"We have a regular over there in that room. I always hear her singing, you could probably catch a show." The owner winked, Darren nodded his head and made his way over, sitting by the outside of the large soundproof room. Thankfully his vampire senses let him hear through the foam perfectly. He smiled as he saw Ronnie pick up a dark guitar, she ran her hand over the glossy material. She ran her hand up the neck of the guitar and took a deep intake of air. The notes started to ring out as she nimbly picked the strings on the guitar, playing the melody. Her voice poured in pools that rang in my ears as she began to sing,

"_Last night I heard my own heart beating_

_Sounded like footsteps on my stairs_

_Six months gone and I'm still reaching_

_Even though I know you're not there_

_I was playing back a thousand memories baby_

_Thinkin' bout everything we've been through_

_Maybe i've been going back too much lately_

_When time stood still and I had you_

_Come back come back come back to me like_

_You would you would if this was a movie_

_Stand in the rain outside til I came out_

_Come back come back come back to me like_

_You could you could if you just said you're sorry_

_I know that we can work it out somehow_

_But if this was a movie you'd be here by now_

_I know people change and these things happen_

_But I remember how it was back then_

_Locked up in your arms and our friends are laughing_

_Cause nothing like this ever happened to them_

_Now I'm pacing down the hall_

_Chasing down your street_

_Flashback to the night when you said to me_

_Nothings gonna change not for me and you_

_Not before I knew how much I had to lose_

_Come back come back come back to me like_

_You would you would if this was a movie_

_Stand in the rain outside til i came out_

_Come back come back come back to me like_

_You could you could if you just said you're sorry_

_I know that we can work it out somehow_

_But if this was a movie you'd be here by now_

_If you're out there if you're somewhere if you're moving on_

_I've be waiting for you ever since you've been gone_

_I just want it back the way it was before_

_And i just wanna see you back at my front door"_

She paused, I saw her press her lips together. Her brows furrowed and her eyes stared down at the floor. They were dark, and empty. But once they started to fill with tears, I saw her wipe under her eyes, trying to keep her dark eyeliner and mascara that were on her long, thick lashes in tact. She sighed, and I knew that I wasn't forgotten. This was about me, and I had hurt her so much. As I watched her she had no emotion, but the second she began to sing, everything showed. It always had. She shook her head and blinked the tears away, and began strumming softly.

"_And i'd say_

_Come back come back come back to me like_

_You would before you said its not that easy_

_Before the fight before i locked you out_

_But i'd take it all back now_

_Come back come back come back to me like_

_You would you would if this was a movie_

_Stand in the rain outside til i came out_

_Come back come back come back to me like_

_You could you could if you just said you're sorry_

_I know that we could work it out somehow_

_But if this was a movie you'd be here by now_

_You'd be here by now_

_It's not the kind of ending you wanna see now_

_Baby what about the ending_

_Oh i thought you'd be here by now,_

_That you'd be here by now"_

_

* * *

Ronnie's Point of View_

I lifted my head, finishing the song. The last phrase was shaky and I couldn't even get it out. Music was always my escape, and I never had the time to sing, or even hold a guitar in that rock. It was another thing Darren had taken away from me. I don't know what I would be doing right now, how I would end up if I was able to do what I loved and perform and write. It was a big part of me, that I was able to gain back when I was with Steve. Even if it was this little store, on the corner. It was a sanctuary for me. I placed the guitar back, pulling my hair out and re-tying it. I smirked when I saw Steve walk into the store, and head towards the room I was in. I exited before he could go in, I didn't want to play for him, not tonight at least.

"Ready to go?" He asked, grabbing my hands and pulling them into mine.

"Yeah, let's go." I nodded, forcing a smile and leaving my soul and emotion and honesty in that room. I looked behind me, seeing a figure sitting against the wall. When I looked back again, it was gone. I could have sworn I saw something, but I guess it was just my brain playing tricks on me again.

"Are you alright?" Steve chuckled, I looked over at him with my eyes wide.  
"I'm going crazy." I giggled, walking out of the store as he held the door open for me.

"You're not going crazy, you've done that a _long_ time ago." I frowned, and kicked him in the butt with my foot. He laughed, jogging away from me. We laughed, joking and chasing each other back to our apartment. Then it hit me, the over powering aroma of blood filled my nostrils.

"Wait, Steve. Somethings wrong."


	12. Settling

**A/N:** Well, hello! Welcome to the 2011 version of OFL! I hope everyone had a Happy New Year! I know myself and RoxyPony definitely did! Let's see, author's notes... I have to put Ronnie's hair back blonde, soon. I just can't imagine her any other way, it's just not right. I'm blonde, she has to be. Anyways, here's the next part- WE BROKE 100 REVIEWS! AGAIN! YOU GUYS. SERIOUSLY. I LOVE YOU! Keep them coming, puhhhlease?

Disclaimer: I only own Ronnie, and what is One Freakish Love. The characters I use belong to Darren Shan, RoxyPony and MISSxMAGIC.

A thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers: **MISSxMAGIC**, Ferretgirlsz, **RoxyPony**, Amela333, LilBat54, Alwaysreading35, StoleTheSpider, Rocky181 and Sapphiet!

Steve stopped instantly, I saw his eyes squint into defensive- dangerous slits. The air around us was quiet, and I could only hear my own breath entering and exiting my body. I tried to focus my senses further, and stretch my boundaries. I could smell the blood as it flowed on the breeze,

"There's blood, let's go." I ordered, looking from side to side and then making my way into the ally.

"Is there anyone still here?" Steve asked in a hushed tone, his voice strictly business.

"Not anyone I can sense," I started, "but we know that's not very reliable." As we became closer and closer to the crimson substance that seemed to be calling out to us, the scents the intertwined with it became more and more familiar.

"That's it?" Steve spat, looking at the conscience man on the ground. The blood came from a large gash in his leg that seemed to be healed with- was that vampire spit?  
"You sound disappointed," I sighed, rolling my eyes at my Vampaneze counterpart.

"Well, I was kind of excited." Steve grumbled, turning on his heel and walking out of the snow.

"I feel like I'm missing something..." I mumbled, staring down at the snow and following Steve back to our apartment. But I was missing something, I was missing my mentor, ex-lover and two best friends holding their breath around the corner.

Steve grunted, shoving a key into the lock of our apartment door. With an exasperated sigh, he pushed the door open as the lock gave its welcoming click open.

"I'm exhausted," I began as I started to take off my jacket and place it on the arm on the couch- Steve had other ideas. He walked over, a mischievous smirk was plastered on his expression as he leaned forward, nipping at my bottom lip. His scent surrounded me as I put my arms around his neck, eyes closing tightly. He leaned forward, allowing my body to fall back onto the couch behind me. He used his arms to hold up most of his body weight as he laid on top of me, kissing my neck and jawline. I shivered, which in turn made Steve chuckle flirtatiously. I turned to the side, allowing him to lay close against me. Our legs intertwined as we kissed on the couch, exchanging sweet pecks and deep, strong kisses. He leaned back after what seemed like only minutes, and brushed my hair out of my eyes. His strong pupils were boring into mine, showing pure sincerity as he breathed gently,

"Ronnie, I love you." Shit. Sure, I knew Steve loved me. He picked me up when I was lost and alone, and he had told me that he cared for me when we were only teenagers. But this was the first time that he had openly said it- he said it looking into my eyes and lying on the couch. It was as simple as that, but so much more complicated. Is this really where I wanted to be? My heart knew that it wasn't, but I was too logical to know that there was no other possibility of being anywhere else. And I was too stubborn to admit the only other place I wanted to be was with Darren. Because he had hurt me, and even if he was alive, I wouldn't go back to him. He ripped my heart out and served it on a platter, he didn't even care. I don't care. Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Ronnie. I'm here, and I'm settling. How terrible is that? Settling...

"I love you too," I pushed out of my concentration. Steve smiled, and kissed me once more.

"What's wrong?" He mumbled into my neck, I pushed back his shoulders.

"What do you mean?"  
"Well, you're doing that thing where you stare off into space, and then you get those wrinkles in your forehead. You're thinking."

"What's wrong with thinking?"  
"When you do it, you do it too much. And then somehow you get yourself into trouble."

"No trouble. Just one of those philosophical moods"- That's what Darren used to call them. "I'm fine."

"Trouble, I like the sound of that." A voice boomed from the corner of the room.

Darren laid on the couch of their hotel room, the song kept playing through his head, the sight of Ronnie sent his senses into shock and he felt empty. His body was moving, but there was no soul- no Ronnie.

"Well, are we going to go see her, or not?" Cassie forced through a mouth full of popcorn as her and Kade flipped through the pay per view channels on the television.

"Yea, we have to," Darren started, putting his head in his hands, "but I don't know if I can do it." Kade looked over at him and then rolled her eyes, pushing a piece of strawberry strands out of her way.

"What do you mean, you can't do it? We've been stalking her forever, and well... you have to." she nodded. Cassie groaned, knowing that she had to go and join the conversation. Kade could be- oblivious to emotion sometimes and laid it on a little too thick. There was Cassie regulation needed.

"What are you afraid of?" She asked, playing with her wedding ring on her left finger. She wanted to see Ronnie, but mostly wanted to get her back to the Mountain, so that she could get back to Evra.

"Have you met Ronnie?" Darren wheezed, looking at Cassie wide eyed, "She's going to kill me!"

"Yeah, probably." Kade snorted, earning a glare from Cassie. She just shrugged and held her hands up, "What? She is! I want to kill him, and he didn't even do anything wrong to me."

"You're right, I didn't do anything to you." Darren shot, Kade just placed a hand on her hip.

"But you did do something to Ronnie. And what you did was a super dick move, so that's enough spill out of Ronnie and onto me." She countered. Darren faltered and looked down at his hands, panicking to himself.

"Well, there's a chance that she won't" Cassie tried to confort him, but she knew that chance was slim. Ronnie had one of the hottest tempers out there, and with all the time she had to simmer, she knew the sadness turned into anger. And an angry Ronnie isn't fun at all.

"Alright, let's says she doesn't kill me. How are we going to get her to go back to the Mountain?" Darren offered, slapping his hands down on his thighs in frustration. He laughed deliriously, there's no way in hell that this was going to work.

"We have to get her to come. There's no other choice. Kade and I are here, so we'll be able to talk to her, the last thing Ronnie is, is stupid." Cassie snapped, an enthusiastic twang in her voice.

"I'm not so sure about that, I mean, did you see her hair?" Kade dramatized, but Cassie's countering comment was interrupted by a certain ginger vampire bursting into the room. Clad in red, Larten Crepsley's presence filled the dim hotel room.

"We have a problem."

"Whoopdee-fuckin-doo."

"Son of a gun."

"Charna's Guts."

Larten ignored the comments from Cassie and Darren, but acknowledged Kade before addressing the issue,

"Kayden, watch your mouth." Larten scolded, Kade rolled her eyes and then started at him for an answer to what the problem was.

"What's the problem?" Cassie reached, looking at Mr. Crepsley with intrigue.

"Desmond Tiny is at their apartment."


	13. Fairytales

**A/N: Hello my beloveds! So, sadly Saturday out of no where I was slapped with the flu. No fun at all! That's why this update is a little late, I finally was able to get out of bed and get onto here, to write this update! All of my other stories though, are on hiatus. An update here and there might happen if time presents itself, but being a high school student it's hard to try and balance everything out- but enough of my life, let's see what's going on with Ronnie, shall we?**

120 Reviews! No way, I never imagined OFL would even get 20 reviews, but here's a thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers from the last chapter: Alwaysreading25, **MISSxMAGIC, **Amela333, LilBat54, Moonlight-97, StoleTheSpider, **RoxyPony**, Sapphiet, Ferretgirlsz, SlytherinQueen1.30 [_Stay tuned for some Esther action in future chapters!]_, xXApplyFangzXx and thatcrazygirl13[I dig your name ;)]

Listening to "Moment 4 Life" by Nicki Minaj (feat. Drake) -"Everyone dies, but not everybody lives."

Steve and I rolled off of the couch, stumbling and struggling to get ourselves untangled from each other. We must have looked like a scene, flying off of the sofa and scrambling on the floor to get to our feet, I would have laughed if Tiny's presence kept me from doing so. When I finally got to my feet, I patted my clothes and pushed my bangs out of my face.

"Veronica, this..." he commented with disapproval, twirling a strand of curls around his finger and then letting it fall limply down with the rest. My eyes stayed in defensive slits, watching his every move, "doesn't suit you very well. What would make you do such a rash decision. Well, no matter how you look you're going to do big things."

"What big things?" I snapped, not trying to be kind anymore. There was no one I hated more than Tiny, and I wasn't going to hide it anymore, what did I have left to lose? My eyes searched over to my side to see Steve. All of his muscles were tensed, and I could see him clenching his jaw. I fought the urge to slide my hand into his, and give him a little reassurance.

"You'll see. Veronica, have you ever gotten a new novel and flipped to the last page," he started, making a opening motion with his hands, "just to see how it would end? It make the whole story less enjoyable, knowing the ending."

"This is no fairy tale." I spat, placing a hand on my hip.

"How do you know that, princess? You've affiliated yourself with royalty." He mocked, letting out a cynical, taunting cackle. My eyebrows furrowed with confusion, royalty? I definitely wasn't a princess, that was probably some smart ass remark, but who was the royalty?

"What do you want, Desmond?" Steve growled, Tiny just looked down at his watch and then turned his attention to Steve.

"Mr. Leonard, I see you finally got Veronica. She quite the chase, wasn't she?"  
"Suck it, Tiny."

"Now now, no need to get feisty! I'm just here to tell you that you're going to be having some visitors, very soon. No matter what they say, you two are on the right path- no matter how wrong it may seem. A half-vampire, leaving her whole clan and living in love with a half-vampaneze! It just couldn't get better, I'm just excited for the finale. What a tale this is turning out to be!" Tiny gasped with an exasperated sigh, "Well, I need to be going. But what I came here to tell you is that when you come to the deciding road- go left."

"No!" I interjected, stepping forward, "Who are these visitors and what does that even mean what ro-" but before I could finish as fast as he came, he was gone.

"Mother fucker." Steve grumbled, I looked over at him raising my brows.

"You said it."

The foursome had sprinted to the scene of the apartment as quickly as possible. Larten eventually had to pick up Cassie, seeing that she was a human and could not keep her pace with the vampires.

"I SAID, I don't need any help!" She fussed as Larten put her down in front of the apartment.

"I understand Cassandra, you have made it clear at least twenty times. But we are in a hurry." Larten chortled, laughing at her obvious frustration. Kade just rolled her eyes, rushing over to the door,

"Sure, Cass. If we didn't carry you, we'd still be five blocks away!". After grumbling something indecipherable, Cassie followed the group over to the entrance to the stairwell that led to the long hall of apartments.

"Wait!" Darren panicked, causing the group to snap their heads back in his direction, "What do we do? Just walk in there? I don't know about you guys, but I don't think that's a very good idea!"

"Yes, Master Shan, not a very good idea."  
"What do you want, tubby?" Kade snapped, letting her head drop back in disbelief. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Last time she checked, she didn't sign up to be on The Young and The Restless. And this is exactly what her life had felt like the past couple of months, a soap opera. Jam packed with drama.

"Now, now. I'm just big boned." Desmond grinned, faking an expression of hurt on his features.

"What are you meddling with this time, Desmond?" Larten boomed with no emotion.

"Veronica is not who she used to be, you are all on the wrong path."

"Well, good!" Cassie exclaimed, letting out a delirious snicker, "The last path I want to be on is the one you think is _right._"

"Do whatever you think is right, but don't cry to me and say I didn't tell you so. The vampaneze lord is at hand, and he will probably not be alone. Events make people eventually- go mad. I'm just letting you know, when it comes to the deciding road- go right." And with that, he was gone.

"Go right? What road is he talking about? Seriously, I don't understand why we're all so freaked out by that guy. He's powerful and all, but I'm 110% sure he's wrong in the head." Kade snorted.

"Let's just get this over with!" Darren wailed, opening the door and waving the other three companions to enter.

"Be strong." Cassie breathed, placing a hand on his shoulder. To be totally honest, she didn't know how Ronnie would react. She was nervous to say the least.

"What's with all these riddles!" I exclaimed sitting down on the couch. Steve sat down beside me, placing his hand on the inside of my thigh.

"I really have no idea... but we'll just have to cross the bridges as we come to them or roads or whatever-" Steve trailed off, thinking about the uses of bridges and roads and rivers and- it was all way too confusing.

"I wish this was a fairy tale." I breathed, imagining my life ending up living happily ever after. But as always, when I hit the lowest of my lows the amazing happened... I had a change of heart. The fire inside me that was dimmed exploded again and turned my views on everything. Sure, having my life be a fairy tale would be easy but even if Tiny said that's how it would be I knew it wouldn't be right. I was a vampire, and trouble and power and evil was in my veins, embedded in my DNA. So you can keep your Prince Charming, and your love at first sight. A land far, far away was never my home and I'll be no damsel in distress, waiting for a white night to charge up and rescue me from the dragon. I don't want a fairy tale, being a princess is boring, and being a queen is no better. I'm happy not being the fairest in the land, and true love's kiss is not what I'm looking for. I'll skip the royal ball, glass slippers are uncomfortable, pumpkin carriages are slow. Once upon a time isn't my beginning and I won't live happily ever after, but I promise you, I will live. I was ripped from my thoughts at the sound of footsteps approaching our door, my eyes connected with Steve who heard the same pitter patter coming up the hall.

"The visitors here? Already?" Steve grumbled, leaning back on the couch, "You go get it?"  
"Why me? What if I open the door and I'm instantly killed or something?" I worried, standing from my spot in the sofa.

"Well, if that does happen. I'll be able to get revenge?" Steve smirked.

"Shut up," I joked, jumping at the sound of the knocking on our door- even though I knew it was coming. Reluctantly, I moved the locks out of place and grabbed the handle firmly, closing my eyes and taking in a large amount of air filling my lungs and preparing myself for what stood behind it. I heard the whispers on the other side of the door instantly silence as the wooden barrier between us was opened, and I was faced with something I was never expecting. My eyes scanned the group and I felt like passing out, and then crying and then I settled on the only emotion that never seemed to let me down, anger.

"Holy tits- this has to be some kind of fucking joke."

****REVIEW REVIEW PLEASE! Sorry if it was totally sucky xD**


	14. Anything

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry that I haven't gotten the chance to update- my schedule and life has been really hectic (What I would do without RoxyPony, I don't know!), and this week I had exams so it was like a double whammy! But I knew I wouldn't be able to really enjoy my weekend if I left you guys hanging ANOTHER week!**

_A thank you to my beautiful reviewers, I'll give shout outs next chapter!_

There was no way that this was happening. Nope, there was no possible way that it could be happening. I could only imagine the way I looked, my eyes were bulging out of my skull and my mouth was hanging wide open. With a sharp intake of air, I slammed the door shut. Closing my eyes tightly I pressed my back to the door, trying to keep my breath in check.

"What was it, the grim reaper?" Steve snickered, and in response I only closed my eyes tighter.

"This is not happening, you're dreaming... about to wake up. Mom is going to come and wake me up for school. I'm going to wake up." I chanted to myself. The last part really tugged at my heart strings, I remember how I used to lay in my bed right before it was time to get up for school. I always woke up right before my mom would come out of her room, I would hear her door open and the sound of her footsteps on the floor and close my eyes tightly just like I was now. There would be a drop in my chest and I would beg for anything to happen so that I could just stay in my bed- I was such an idiot.

"What's going on, whose out there?" Steve's eyebrows furrowed together, and his voice started to deepen with concern. I turned around and pulled the door open once again, the stupid smile fading from my lips when the group of people were still standing at the door.

"Oh no! They're still there!" I cried, covering my face with my hands.

"Well no shit, dumb ass!" A very annoyed Kade commented, rolling her eyes.

"I think she's lost it." Cassie whispered to Larten who was keeping his stature as usual.

"Who's here? Honestly, I don't think it could be anyon-", Steve stopped in his tracks as he came across the vampire and former best friend he swore to kill, two attractive girls and a little person. His eyes made contact with mine and exuded pure shock, and then, rage.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here!" Steve growled, pushing me behind him protectively. Meanwhile my whole world was falling apart, I felt as if I was dunked into the coldest of water and my whole body was numb. My head was spinning and the small apartment felt as if it couldn't hold me, everything was getting hazy. No matter how hard I blinked, he was there. Just like he was the night he told me that he didn't love me and destroyed everything I believed in, the night before he was going to be sent to be _killed._ But he was there, still trapped in the same boyish form as I was- it didn't matter what form he was in, he was there.

"You have a lot of nerve!" Kayden stepped forward, until she realized she didn't know exactly who she was yelling at, "-wait, who are you anyways?". Cassie knew more than better who he was, and pushed Kayden out of the way and took her place.

"How _dare _you? What did you do? Blackmail her into staying her with you? Did you find her and manipulate her when she was weak?" she spat, closing the distance in between her and my vampaneze counterpart.

"I didn't do anything! I helped her when she was down when you," he thrusted a picture in Darren's direction, "almost sent her into a frenzy!". Darren's eyes flashed pain and then he shook his head, stepping forward- the whole group seemed to be forcing their way into our apartment despite a lack of invitation.

"You don't know anything, Steve." I lost it.

"Woah, woah." I broke through, using my hands to emphasize the space between my words. "He doesn't know anything? I've made peace with you being gone, and dead a long time ago. The fact that you're here, after everything that you put me through is a new level of low. You don't know anything, apparently to come and just show up here like everything's going to be okay. Because guess what, that's never going to happen."

"Veronica, please calm down." Mr. Crepsley reached out, but I cut him off.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I snarled, and in the corner of my eyes I could see Steve giving him a smug glare, "there's no excuse for you to be here! You just thought I'd be okay with you just showing up at my door? I left the Mountain for the reason, I started to make a life. I started to be happy and then you just came here!"

"Ronnie," Cassie started, coming over and placing her hands on my shoulders. The second she connected with me, I felt the sizzle of my fire in my chest. "You know we wouldn't come here without a good reason. Please, just let us talk." I shook my head, my eyes searching for Kayden who just gave me a reassuring nod.

"Fine, but I am not talking to _him._" I shot out the last word like it was poison, staring Darren straight in the eyes.

"You don't have to talk to any of them!" Steve shouted. At this point my head was doing more than spinning, it was pounding. It started to become really hard to breathe. The emotions that I had blocked off had broken through the patchy dam I had constructed and my heart couldn't take it. The lights became really bright, and everything seemed to be louder- but it obviously was the emotional stress, I think.

"Stuff it!" Kade growled, the same intimidating tone that kept her feared on the battle field.

"No, Steve." I breathed shakily, "this obviously must be important. Even though I may not trust Darren- or care about anything he says for that matter, I care about what they have to say." I couldn't keep my eyes away from Darren who just chewed at the inside of his lips and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"But, Ronnie," Steve pleaded, taking my hand into his. "You don't have to do this, we've built up from nothing. You don't know what they have to say- what if it tears it all apart? We can just send them away and keep living in our world."

"Your delusional world." Kayden mumbled under her breath, but we both ignored it. I stared into his eyes, his jaw was locked and I lifted a hand and placed it on the side of his face and bit back tears. I could do what he said, but then we'd be living in our own made up little world. Our sad, disturbing, taunting, unrealistic world. I wish we could make a world where there was no pain, and Steve had started to do that for me, but pain had shown up on my doorstep.

"No, this is something I- we have to do. Will you please do this with me?"

"I'll do anything."


	15. Can't Say No

**A/N:** Well, hello my readers! I am sitting here, starting my morning as I would with a Diet Cherry 7-up and chatting on facebook- which reminds me. LIKE ME ON FACEBOOK! There's a link on my page! There might be a contest coming up in the mere future, so keep a look out for that. Uhm, other than that I don't think there's any news that should keep you from this chapter anymore, so let's get on with it!

Disclaimer:I don't own anything other than Ronnie! MissXMagic owns Cassie and RoxyPony owns Kade. Everyday I wish I own Darren... or at least any of the DSS, but that's to Darren Shan himself.

_Listening To: "Kiss My Sass" Cobra Starship, and "Super Bass", Nicki Minaj_

"This is so awkward." Kade mumbled, shifting her weight from foot to foot. I pulled away from Steve and turned to face everything that I had been running from. Our little apartment has never looked so full, but there was an emptiness that lingered in the air. I lifted my hand and sighed as I ran my hair through my bangs and closed my eyes before I made my way over to the couch and plopped down.

"If I knew we were having company I would have made cookies or something." I said half heartedly.

"No you wouldn't." Steve snickered at my remark, I was always trying to bake and no matter how many times I tried, it never turned out right.

"That's not the point," I looked over at Steve as he sat next to me, forcing to keep a smile under wraps. "What is the point?" I questioned looking over at my mentor as he stood against the arm rest of a chair. The rest of the group had made themselves comfortable, Kade sat down in the large chair, resting her cowboy boots on the makeshift coffee table. I would have said something if I didn't do the exact same thing. Darren leaned against one of the walls, eyes scanning the room as if he was on edge and looking for something that was a threat to him. Cassie took a seat next to me, her presence was very refreshing and if I thought hard enough, I could almost take myself back to the days where things were much simpler.

"_So, is it cool having all that super strength and stuff?" A young and exuberant Cassie grinned, resting her head in her hands._

"_Well yeah," I nodded, walking along one of the cracks on the floor in my tent, "I mean, of course it's cool being able to jump and run really fast and all that stuff- I feel like a badass most of the time, but it's not really badass when you realize why you're that way."_

"_What do you mean?" Cassie's voice had become softer at my last comment, and I could see the innocent conversation become tainted._

"_I'm a vampire," I giggled, and was surprised at how melodic it sounded. When I had first turned, all of the changes in myself were pretty obvious- but I could always hear my voice, but it was underneath something so much more beautiful, the tainted beauty vampirism had given to me._

"_Yeah, I know that. But what's your point?" Cassie had now rolled over and was looking at me with her head hanging over the edge of the bed, brown strands falling with gravity._

"_If you didn't meet me first, the only way that you'd know about me was if you picked up a Dracula novel, or watched a horror movie." I explained, stopping and placing a hand on my hip. "If you looked at me, by first glance I just would look like some teenager who drew you in a little more than I should. But that's because I'm a predator, I was made to bring people to me, I was made to kill. Even though personally, I may not seem that way. I'm a monster, and we all are."_

"_But you're the good guys, you're not a monster, Ronnie." Cassie's lips were pressed into a straight line._

"_No, but I am." I laughed dryly, "I was given strength, and everything else in vain. I'll have to watch my family die, I'll have to watch you and Evra die. I'll have to watch your children die, and your children's children. I'll outlive everyone I ever meet, basically. I drink blood, for gods sake! That's not the nicest thing in the world."_

"_But you'll always have Darren."_

_I smiled to myself, looking down and then back up at Cassie,_

"_Yeah, I'll always have Darren."_

I shook my head, frowning at the fact how remembering the 'simple' times were so tainted.

"The princes request to see you, Veronica. We need you to come back to the mountain with us." Larten acknowledged, and I snorted before replying.

"What have you been smoking?" Larten looked over at Kade for a bit of a translation.

"Basically she means you must be crazy for you to think that she'd come to the mountain with us." Kade groaned, she knew that this wasn't going to go very smoothly.

"Do you know why they want to talk to me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." Larten answered.

"Well?"

"I cannot tell you, they have to speak to you themselves." I let out an exasperated sigh and gripped the bridge of my nose between my fingers, thinking over the situation. I didn't ever want to go back to the mountain, I had come here and was living with Steve. We had made it our job to keep the city and areas surrounding it safe, basically becoming the hunters of the area. But there was a feeling in the pit of my stomach, I don't know exactly what it was, but there was something deep inside of me that was telling me that I had to go, that there was no other choice, I couldn't say no. Besides, I was a vampire, and no matter how mad I was, I couldn't turn my back.

"How long will this take?" I surrendered, receiving a shocked glance from Steve.

"You're actually going to go?" He snapped, I only nodded in reply.

"I'm going to go and not stay one minute more than I need to."

"Well, why don't I come with you?"

"You cannot, you are a vampaneze. Which means you are not allowed in Vampire Mountain." Larten quipped.

"And you annoy the shit out of me, I don't want your bitch ass tagging along. No offense." Kade snickered, picking at the cuticles on her fingernails. Steve bit his tongue, and I knew that once they left our apartment he'd have a lot to say to me. But there was no changing my mind once it was set, and he knew that.

"When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning." I laid my head back on the chair and closed my eyes once more,

"Alright, I'll be ready." Larten smiled at me proudly, and Cassie squeezed my hand gently. "I'll see you all tomorrow." I said standing up and opening the door and getting ready to shoo them out of the door, but Kade had other ideas.

"Larten, Darren, we'll meet you back at the hotel. There's something Cassie and I need to do before we leave." she said, stopping at the opened door.

"Alright, I would ask what you were doing, but I do not need to know." Larten said before taking down the hallway with Darren, my heart called out for him to return, but I forced my mind to black out any of those emotions and thoughts for the time being, I knew they would haunt me before sleep came to me.

"Well, if this is going to be chick time, I'm going out and I'll be back, and then we'll talk, Ronnie." Steve said, his lips pressed into a straight line as he pulled on his coat and walked out of the door.

"Since when did he become your dad?" Kade gawked as Steve walked out of the door, his hand trusted into his pockets as he walked quickly down the hallway.

"That's not the point," Cassie said, sitting me on the couch after I had shut the door, "we know that you were sad when you left the mountain, but you don't have to look like it!"  
"What do you mean?" I defended, confused at what she was getting at.

"Ron, doll." Kade said, placing a hand on my head, "You're hair is dark as night, and I can see your blonde roots growing in."

"We have to fix you, and bring the real Ronnie back." Cassie smiled, excitement growing in her voice. I opened my mouth to start to protest, even though I was totally for the idea, I was going to try and be difficult and put up at least a little bit of a fight, but Kade held out her hand and placed it over my mouth.

"Don't even waste your breath, I'm changing you back whether you like it or not."


	16. SorryNOT AN UPDATE

Hi guys, I'm sorry that this isn't an update, I wish it was as much as you do! But I'm sorry to say that as of right now One Freakish Love is going to be... ON HOLD. It totally pains me to write that but there's been a lot going on in my life that's taken the urge and will for me to write, right out of me. But I promise the second I find my muse I will get back to writing and OFL as soon as possible. I'll be celebrating my 17th birthday Wednesday, and maybe that will give me some need to write. Also in my life ME AND MY BESTFRIENDS GOT THE LAST THREE TICKETS TO THE KE$HA CONCERT THATS COMING HERE, YES. Anyways, I'll still be answering my messages and reading and reviewing and updating other things but no updates for OFL may be scheduled for a while, but who knows maybe I'll lay in bed and get up and want to write, maybe it will be tomorrow, maybe it could be next month. Thank you for everyone whose read and please don't forget about me, or OFL. I'll still be around maybe doing a collab with my BEST FRIEND AND TWINNER ROXYPONY! But I didn't want to leave you guys in the dark! I just need some time off... Love Always, SB1.


	17. Oh Man' is right

**A/N: Wow, so that wasn't much of a vacation. I have to say I'm pretty surprised with myself, mostly this is probably because tomorrow is my birthday and I want one last sixteen year old written chapter of OFL, and the fact that MISSxMAGIC's update really got me wanting to write, so you can thank her for that. And the AMAZING birthday present that my amazing twin RoxyPony had written for me had gotten me wanting to write again! I was just having a bad week and honestly, I couldn't let you guys down and I need my DAREBEAR! So let's get on with it**!

Disclaimer:I only own Ronnie, that's all if you don't know who owns the characters by now you seriously need to get on that.

_A thank you to all my beautiful reviewers, please keep them coming! I'll put shout outs in the next chapter._

There I was again, face down in the porcelain. I don't know how I got here it was probably because Kade would never take no for an answer and Cassie knows basically how to talk me into anything. But I had to admit, I was happy that this event was taking place. The bleach strung strongly to my vampire senses, and I never realized it when I would go and get my usual highlights at the salon down the street from my house, but that was before I was a vampire.

"Thank god we are ridding you of this," Kade grumbled under her breath, reaching forward to work the dye through my hands, but Cassie slapped her hands away. This had been going on for at least half an hour. "Cassandra, I swear to the gods if you slap my hand away _one_ more time, I'm going to knock you into another dimension." Kade snapped, but Cassie just rolled her eyes.

"You'll rip her hair out! You're not very delicate you know."

"Are we almost done?" I groaned, my back screaming from being hunched over in the sink.

"Almost, we wouldn't have to do this if you didn't go all brooding on us, you're not a brunette, it's just not right." Cassie scoffed, starting to rinse the toxins off of my scalp.

"Seriously, it's like Justin Timberlake being in the Backstreet Boys, just _not right._" Kade snorted, and I could see her twirling a strand of strawberry hair in her fingers.

"When are you going to talk to him?" It seems as though she couldn't hold back anymore.

"Talk to who? Steve? When he gets back, I don't know his life, Cass." I decided to play dumb, it could buy me at least a couple of seconds before I had to make an excuse of why I wouldn't talk to Darren.

"Don't be a smart ass, I'm talking about Darren."

"Never."

"Sit up," Cassie commanded, wrapping my hair up in a towel and guiding me to sit down on the toilet, "you have to talk to him, Ronnie. You don't know everything that has happened to him and why that happened. What he did to you was wrong, but you need to try and set things straight. Especially since we're going to be traveling back to the mountain at least for a month." I had totally forgotten about that, I knew that we would be going back to the mountain, but I didn't think about how long I had to dodge his glance and look everywhere else other than where he was. But there was no good excuse, there was nothing that could have made what he had done to me. I loved Steve, right? ...right? I stared at Cassie blankly and just shook my head,

"I just can't Cassie, you have to understand. Not yet, at least." She just pressed her lips into a tight line but I could see the sincerity in her eyes, she was my best friend and I knew she wouldn't set me up for failure. I just wasn't ready, and it was as simple as that. Kade also agreed, which gave me another sense of worry deep in my gut, the vampire had become a sister to me and she wasn't the person to easily forgive anyone.

"Well, I'm sick of waiting so let's get you finished, so I can get some sleep!" Kade grinned, pulling the towel off of my head and looking charmed and dangerous with a blow dryer. I hadn't been able to see myself until they had left the apartment, and I was able to have alone time with myself in the mirror. Reluctantly I walked into the bathroom and flipped the light switch on, and the sight of myself brought up the emotions that I had hidden for as long as I could. The tears I never cried sat on the rims of my eyelashes. My platinum blonde curls had returned and flowed down my shoulders, even though I had looked the way I had before there was a stranger standing before me. All of the innocence was ripped from her eyes, and the one thing she always had was gone. There was no Darren, there was nothing, just someone who was angry, in denial and incomplete. There was a girl who was apart from the one boy that she was irrevocably in love with, no matter what she did, no matter what she said, her heart belonged to him. But Veronica Dexter wasn't going to let him have her back that easily.

My heart dropped as soon as I heard the locks on the door and Steve's grunt as he shoved through, the door squeaked reluctantly as it pressed open. I looked at myself in the mirror, wiping away a stray tear that had fallen from my lashes before peeking around the corner.

"Steve?" I called, surprised at how weak my voice sounded as the words entered my lips. I didn't get a reply, and only heard the faint noise of him exhaling loudly as he sat on the couch. "Steve?" I called again and this time he answered once I came into sight.

"You dyed it again?" He asked breathlessly, putting his face into his hands and I saw pure pain in his eyes.

"Yea... I didn't feel like myself. But what's the big deal? Are you afraid I'll get split ends?" I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, but he looked up at me almost grimacing.

"This isn't funny, Ron," he stated, and the smile instantly fell from my face, "did you do that for him?"

"For who?" I shot back, even though I knew what he was going to say.  
"Darren."

"No, it was mostly Kade and Cassie driven, you know how they are. What's gotten into you?" I searched, sitting down on the couch next to him and laying a hand on his back.

"I'm worried, Ronnie. We're in here having a happy life and here walks in your old mentor and all the people close to you and _him._" he spat the word like it could kill him, "I don't want to lose you. Even through everything I know how you feel about him-"

"Felt," I corrected, giving him a stern look, but I knew he didn't buy it.

"You're going to be away, you're going to be gone with him and I can't be by you." I felt my heart break when I knew that it would be dangerous going away from Steve, because he was the only thing that kept my mind off of Darren and being around him wouldn't make not loving him easier. Especially since he had changed since I had last seen him, he was more rugged than before, his beautiful eyes still searched the room nervously and he still looked like the boy I had fallen in love with back in high school with his hands in his pockets and if I ever had the chance, I bet he still had the same stupid smile. But he was rougher, and the muscles on his arms and around his neck had become firmer and he was more of a..._ man._ Man is right, oh man. I shook the thoughts away from my head,

"I need you to make a promise to me." Steve added shakily, grabbing my hands and looking deep into my eyes. "Do you love me?"

"Yes," I whispered, feeling the atmosphere in the room become tense.

"Then before you leave, I need you to do something. Just to keep me sane while you're away, just so I can have some piece of mind."

"Anything." But he did something I didn't expect, something I wasn't expecting, he slid of the could and crouched down before me, pulling a velvet box out of his hand.  
"I want you to marry me."


	18. And What's Wrong With That?

**A/N:** Hello lovely people and reviewers! Here's another chapter, isn't it great that there's going to be an update! I'm pretty excited, I think you should be too! I'm starting to slip slowly back into activity, so that's good news for you. Make sure to check out MISSxMAGIC's finale of The Different Girl! Now, if I can get- this might be a shot in the dark here- TEN, yes TEN reviews, then I will upppdate MONDAY. Yea, you heard it, MONDAY. Make sure to check out the poll on my profile, we've got a pretty good race between Team Steve and Team Darren. In your review, lemme know, which team are you on? Alright, let's get on it.

Disclaimer: Honestly, if I owned something I wouldn't be on FANFICTION, so obviously I don't own anything. I'm done with these, gah, I'm an angry girl ;)

My mouth had gone dry, I couldn't even stand still. I legit had the feeling that right then and there I was going to throw up all my guts, and pass out. No matter how long I stared at it, that silver wedding band just taunted me- that stupid little wedding band. But Steve's expression stayed the same: sincere, genuine, full of love and something I couldn't put my finger on, but I couldn't look to into that right now. My knees had gone out and I sat back on the couch, my jaw had stayed wide open ever since he had gotten down on one knee, and my heart had never slowed. Taking in a deep breath, I reached up a hand and ran a finger through my bangs, ruffling them through the light spirals that fell onto my shoulders.

"Steve, I-" My voice cracked, and it sounded weaker than I had ever heard it before. What was I supposed to do? Yes, I loved Steve. But it felt wrong to give myself away to someone when most of me belonged to someone else. Curse you, Darren Shan. Curse you for polluting all my thoughts, heavying my breaths, and living in my dreams. The look on Steve's face almost broke my heart, I could only imagine what was going through his mind. I tried to be a little logical and put myself in his situation. Okay, so let's try it. I'm in love with Steve and helped him heal from a terrible, horrific breakup from the love of his life. We made a pretty good life, and found love with each other, and even though I was irrevocably in love with him, I was never sure if I always completely had him because of his love for so and so. Then whatsherface comes and he has to go away with her for a really long time an- yeah, that's not good.

"Veronica Dexter, I love you," he whispered, setting the velvet box down on the coffee table, his eyebrows threading together with a pleading affection, "I promise that I will never let you down, I promise that I will never leave you alone. I promise when you're cold, to take you in my arms to make sure you're warm. I promise whenever you're upset cheer you up with sushi," he started to chuckle as he began to list examples, and each one he gave, I felt my heart sink lower and lower- and myself getting pushed closer and closer to the edge. "I promise whenever you lose your temper, to soak you in a tub of water to cool you down. I promise not to turn off your Eminem CD when you're playing it too loud, and when you wake in the middle of the night, I promise I'll stay up- all night if I have to, until you are sound asleep."

"This is so sudden Steve, I mean-" I started, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes, but he leaned forward, interlacing his hand behind my neck and standing me up so that I was looking into his eyes. I felt his biceps curl around me and the space between our bodies disappear, and throughout it all, he had never stopped looking in my eyes. My breath came out in broken gasps as he spoke, his lips grazed mine, and if it weren't for my vampire senses, I probably wouldn't be able to hear what he had said.

"I would die without you."

I closed my eyes tightly, the tears seeming to pour out of my eyes, as the words swirled around in my mind. I tried to keep my gasps and cries soft, but I couldn't and ended up hiccuping and sounding like a dying, gasping animal.

_I would die without you, I would die without you, I would die without you._

I had heard those words before, and I felt as though I would totally shut down. I felt as though I was being bent, bruised, broken and manipulated, my mind was going in all different directions, but I could only think about one thing.

_I never thought I'd find someone like, you." he breathed, in between kisses. "I'm so glad I did." he finished, I pressed my eyes together tightly, wrapping my arms around him. I parted my lips, his tongue sliding over the entrance. I leaned in deeper, his scent filling up around me. As I leaned against his chest, I could feel his heart quickly beating. I felt even better, knowing that it wasn't just my heart that raced whenever I would kiss him. It was the same feeling that was there the first time we had kissed, and it never had changed. After a couple of minutes, we both pulled back. And just looked at each other, I took note of his face. His eyes dark, and full of dimension, his lips were perfectly shaped. I couldn't help but tear up, my heart felt as though it would beat out of my rib cage, and right into his lap. His arms still around me, I leaned closer into him, his chest stopping me from getting any closer. I felt his arms flex, as he wrapped his arms more around me, and I had moved my way into his lap, without even knowing. I placed my hand in the nook of his neck, the tears still at home in my vision. "What's wrong?" He asked, I just shook my head. I was never a sap like this, and refused to cry more than once or twice in a span of months. And with that whole bear accident and the events that had led up to my vampirism, and being where I was now, I probably had filled my crying quota for the rest of my life._

_"Please don't ever leave me."_

_"I would die without you."_

As Steve kissed me, I knew the same feeling that I had felt back then would never return, I knew that nothing could ever compare. But how I felt with Steve was the closest I could get, so I breathed to him,

"Yes."

**Steve's Point of View**

I smiled widely as my heart beat in my chest, it felt as though it was going to beat out of my rib cage, but there was the thought in the back of my mind that exterminated the amazing exhilarating feelings that made me feel as though I was going to jump out of my skin and was floating on top of myself. Ronnie wiped her tears with the back of her sleeve, something she had always done even since we were young, and I remembered when she did that- when Darren had first 'died' and we were sitting on her couch. But I did what I had to do, I had a duty to the clan. I was the Lord of The Vampaneze- and this was all apart of the plan. I loved Ronnie, but I had to put my clan first, so I could gain my rightful throne as the Lord of Shadows and beat Shan once and for all.

"I have to pack," she said, giving me a weak smile that was still more beautiful than ever. Her bright blue eyes seemed to glow against the red that had formed since tears had spilled from her irises. I nodded giving her another kiss on the lips before she turned and walked towards the room, mumbling to herself. That girl always talked to herself, but I had learned to not think about it. Once the door had closed, I heard a sound that made me feel as though I was being skinned.

"Very, very good, Mr. Leonard!" Desmond Tiny clapped from behind me, but I whirled around, shushing him briskly.

"Be quiet! Do you want her to know you're here?" I spat, but Mr. Tiny just waved it off- as always, Ronnie was blasting music in her room, the bass shaking the pictures on the wall and I could hear her rapping faintly with the Drake song that played, not very well, but rapping none the less.

"Don't be so uptight, this is all good fun!" Tiny laughed, fiddling with his watch.

"I don't know if I can do this- I don't think she can handle this," I said honestly, my conscience kicking in for a moment.

"Oh," Desmond smiled cynically, "she will handle it _just_ the way I want her to."

"But if she gets betrayed again, I think she'll go postal and downright insane." At that, Desmond just let out another loud laugh and then narrowed his eyes, and the smirk that was painted on his lips made my breath catch in my throat, and his cooed,

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

**DUN DUN DUN. REVIEW REVIEW!**


	19. Won

**A/N: **Well hello there, One Freakish Lovers ;)

That was infact a very lame attempt of having some sort of humor. But remember me? Yeah, I know, I know. I've basically dropped off the side of the DSS fandom, but since you're reading this OBVIOUSLY you're reading an update! I just couldn't stay away, even though I'm super busy and barely have time for anything- inside Ronnie was punching me in the chest trying to get me to get off my ass and update! The poll on my profile is a pretty close one, so MAKE SURE TO GO CAST A VOTE FOR THAT. Also, if you have any fan art, make sure to send it, I'd LOVE IT and maybe it'll make me want to update faster?

The depature was a hard one, I knew exactly where I was going. I didn't know what was going to happen when I got there- one because of the fact that I just left when things were getting serious and mostly because now I was living and _engaged_ to a vampaneze. Steve didn't want me to go, and he didn't hide it one bit as I packed away the rest of my belongings in my room before making my way out of the door.

"I really wish you didn't have to go." Steve mumbled, leaning his wide structure against the door frame as I shoved the drawer to my dresser shut.

"I know," I groaned, standing up straight and looking in his eyes, a small smirk appeared on my lips, "you've told me... eighteen times now?" Steve let a small chuckle escape his lips but quickly regained his stone like expression.

"I don't understand why you're going, there's nothing you need there. I don't understand why you're doing this for Shan."

"I am NOT, doing this for Darren," I snapped, my eyebrows threading together in a sudden flash of anger, "I'm doing this for Larten, and Cassie and Kayden." A knock on the door stopped the banter that was about to take place, and Steve's expression turned from nothing, to pure sadness.

"I guess it's time for me to go." I whispered, looking down to the floor and fiddling with one of my curls as Steve's steps rhythmically moved my way. His arms slid around my waist and he pulled my close, gently propping his hand under my chin and angling my eyes directly towards his.

"Please be safe." He frowned, his eyes moistening, even though I know he'd never shed a tear in front of me, or anyone for that matter.

"I'll try my hardest," I forced a smile to reassure him, because I didn't know what was going to happen. I had barely made it there and back the first time, so I had no idea what was going to happen this time.

"I love you." He stammered, and I nodded my head, playing with the ring on my finger as they were interlaced around his neck.

"I love you, Steve." His lips collided against mine and my knees went weak as always, but we were broken apart by a now even louder pounding against the door.

"Hello! Did you not hear me the first time? Let's go princess!" Kayden hollered, banging on the door once again.

"I have to go." I said, and Steve nodded, his eyes still foggy. As I started to walk away her grabbed my arm and quickly pulled my back, showering my with his last couple of quick kisses.

"I'll be back soon," I said before opening the door, and all he replied with was a simple,

"I love you."

Thankfully it wasn't winter, so we wouldn't be reaching the cold weather until the higher climates. My black jacket was wrapped around my waist- against Cassie's complaints that it was fashion suicide, but I didn't want to carry it, so it had to do.

"I can't believe you're getting MARRIED!" Cassie forced in between breaths as we heaved up one of the steeper hills until we reached our rest site.

"I can't believe you said yes- and he didn't even buy you a decent ring. I mean really, it's just a band! No bling at all, does he not know you?" Kade rolled her eyes, and I shook my head.

"It doesn't matter, it's just what it symbolizes."

"What are you going to do? Can I plan your wedding! I mean, you planned mine so it'd only be fair!" Cassie winked, and I laughed at the how excited I was to plan her wedding and how amazing it turned out.

"I don't really want a big wedding, but you will definitely be the maid of honor."

"Fine, fair enough."

"Have reached our resting point for the morning," Mr. Crepsley noted, waving a hand to a cave on the left of him. Throughout the whole walk here Darren stayed quiet, his hands thrusted into his pockets, mumbling to himself and occasionally scoffing at one of the remarks about Steve and I's sudden engagement. I couldn't keep myself from looking his way every once and while, even though I didn't want to look at him once. Well, I did want to look at him- but I forced myself not to.

"Veronica, go get wood for the fire. Kayden, please begin preparations for making the fire. Cassandra, could you start preparing some food?" Mr. Crepsley instructed, even though I had left the mountain I was still his assistant, not a very good one, but his assistant none the less. So I just nodded and started to make my way into the thick forest, as I walked away I heard Kayden's chattering become farther and farther away.

"What are you going to do? Sit your lazy ass down and watch us do all the work?" Kayden bitched in the distance, but I was already too far away to hear Mr. Crepsley's reply.

I shuffled my feet in the dirt, and when I found that there were no suitable sized pieces of wood I decided to rip large branches off the oaks. The sound of the wood cracking drowned the sound of the steps coming towards me. When I had gathered all of the large pieces in my arms, they had found their way to the floor when I saw Darren standing in my path. He was standing there, his eyes quickly shifting from mine, back to the ground. I fought the urge just to run into his arms and hold him so tightly and never let him go. To let the tears fall and tell him how much I missed him, how much I loved him, and how much I needed him. How his beautiful eyes poisoned all of my dreams, how I thought about him almost every second of the day. But I couldn't no matter how much I wanted to, that's how I would heal. Even though it seemed he took that ability away from me.

"What do you want." I sassed, placing a hand on my hip.

"We need to talk." He answered, his voice low and his lips pressed into a straight line. I once again thought of how I would do anything to see those lips curl back into that boyish smile that made my heart stop.  
"I don't want to talk to you, Darren." I growled, "and obviously you know that, because you had to corner me in the freaking forest to try and make me talk to you."

"You don't have to say anything, just please, listen." He took a step forward and solidly locked his gaze on mine, and right then and there, Darren won again.


	20. Run Like Hell

**A/N: **Hi There! So, I have some really good news! I don't know how good of news it would be for people who don't like me- but for those of you that do... I'm back from my little DSS vacation! I'm going to be coming back full time, which means updates will be coming more often, messages will be answered quicker, and I'll be reading and reviewing stories again! I got a twitter, and you can follow me on RonnieDexter! I think you totally should! I'm going to reply to reviews starting the next chapter, as for the poll results... WERE AT A TIE! So go on and cast your vote! There isn't any Cassie and Kade in this chapter but of course **THEY AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE!** I want to give a special shout out to Jaa162 for giving an awesome song suggestion! Songs play a big part in my writing, so if you have any song that would fit any situation in the story- drop it in a review!

Thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers, you keep me coming back ;)

Listening to: "Bottom Of The Ocean" Miley Cyrus and "Listen To Your Heart" DHT

I reluctantly let my hand slide from my hip and stared at the ground, pursing my lips. I couldn't get myself to look at him when he talked to me, he had not even uttered a word- yet I couldn't keep my hands from shaking. I breathed in slowly, in short, ragged gasps.

"Fine," I spat, masking my voice and trying to keep it from showing how I really felt inside. I felt like a sad, alone little girl. Ever since I left the mountain, I felt as though I was always trying to catch my breath. I wanted to hit Darren so hard in the mouth that his mom would feel it, but inside I'd rather just live in his arms and never leave, and that's what was so frustrating. My stupid heart wouldn't coordinate with my head- I knew how I should feel, and what I should do, and how I should do it. But my logic couldn't overpower my feelings, and it sucked.

I looked up and ran my hands through my bangs before crossing my arms and waiting for Darren to speak. I was deciding whether I wanted to start tapping my foot, but I figured I was being cruel enough, the bitchy sarcasm wasn't needed. Darren had his hands in his pockets, and was swaying back and forth. I could see his fingers twiddling through his pockets, and the shadows that casted over his face made his gaze look dark, and full of sorrow. His hair fell into his eyes, just as it always did, barely brushing over his eyelashes. I saw the muscles in his neck tense as he gritted his teeth in thought, probably trying to choose his words wisely.

"I can't make an excuse for anything that I did," he started, looking up at me. The second our eyes connected, I redirected them away. "I mean, I could but there's no way you would listen to them, or even believe them. Because what I did was horrible, and terrible and-"

"A complete dick move, you caught me completely off guard, Darren. Do you know that?" I spat, tears threatening to spill from my eyes when I remembered exactly what had happened. I played that night over and over again in my mind, and imagined my face- the way my smile probably just slipped off of my face.

"You don't understand, Ronnie." He stepped towards me, shaking his head vigorously, his voice becoming louder. I stood my ground and twisted my wedding around on my finger, it was the only thing that kept me from running to him. "That hurt me- probably more than you could imagine. When you left, I didn't even know what to do. I drank, I fought anyone who gave me a reason to pick a fight with them. I was a total mess, because I knew I hurt you and it was something I never wanted to do, ever. I love you with all of my heart-" he pounded a fist over his chest, "you are my heart. I would do anything for you, I would die without you and I almost did. I'm so sorry, I couldn't express to you how sorry I am. You know me better than anyone ever had, and you've always been in my life. We've been through more than two people should ever go through and I wouldn't want to go through it with anyone else, I don't think anyone else could... _complete me_ the way that you do."

I was so focused on keeping my face straight, that I didn't notice how much he had traveled towards me. He was only a couple of inches away, and I could hear his tattered breathing. I could smell him, I could smell happiness, home. Darren was where I should be, and my heart knew it. He not only was every last piece of home I had, he was home. I swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears from spilling, and ruin the image I had tried so hard to paint.

"Then why?" I shuddered, my voice low and soft. "Then why? Then why would you leave me? Why, after I gave up everything for you, my home, my life, everything!" My voice had started to rise, but Darren didn't step back when my anger started to boil- just like he never did. "I gave you every piece of myself, there was nothing more that I could give! What more could I have done! I've told you everything, I trusted you with my life... I trusted you with my heart. You KNOW, I don't trust anyone! And you're the exact reason why I don't. You looked me in the eyes-", the tears started to cloud my vision and stream down my cheeks, but I refused to let it affect my facial expression. I remained cold, and hard and expressionless. "And told my that you didn't love me, Darren! I left, and you didn't chase after me. I tried to be everything you wanted and needed, what was wrong! How could yo-"

His lips connected to mine, and interrupted me mid sentence. His hands were placed on my shoulders tightly, his grip was desperate. I fought to keep my eyes open, but they surrendered and shut tightly. My arms found my way around his neck and with that he wrapped his arms around my waist and yanked me towards him, pulling me into his body with a fierce yearning as if I couldn't get close enough. We heaved and struggled for air as the kiss broke, throughout it all tears continued to spill from my eyes. My heart felt as though it was going to shut down, my whole body shook along with Darren's who seemed almost as unstable as mine. We held each other closely, I looked up into his eyes which were cloudy with tears. The silence was louder than anything I had ever heard. He pressed his forehead against mine, and everything was the same as it was before. Like nothing had ever changed, that was the thing with Darren- it never changed. His kiss, his smile, the way he made me feel never changed, and nothing could ever compare to it. Nothing could even come close. But then, with my hands intertwined around his neck, my hand connected with a piece of silver metal wrapped around my finger, Steve.

I quickly pulled out of Darren's arms, and stepped backwards and turned on my heel and listened to the voice that whispered to me to run like hell.


	21. It Was Always You

**A/N:** I really wasn't planning on updating, I know. Bad, bad girl I am. I'm sorry this took so late, but I was on my spring break and super exhausted- but here's your update, so you better not complain! The song is from Panic! At The Disco(Who I'm going to see at the House of Blues on Jun 17!) called "Always". Also make sure to go over to RoxyPony's page and check out TVF7, Viva Las Vampires! :)

I decided I really need to start this again- because I'm almost at **200 reviews!** THAT IS MINDBLOWING! I'm so appreciative for every review and I'm so fortunate to get so many! So a thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers!

Slytherin Queen 1.30: Haha, I bet she wouldn't mind doing that! Boys, always trouble...

Jaa162: Thanks for the song suggestions! I'm glad I inspired you! I'll definitely keep an eye out for it!

MISSxMAGIC: Your reviews always make me happy, and they make me laugh my ass off! I'm glad

you liked it. Hmmm, I wonder whose side you're on- you don't make it obvious at all ;)

Jaa162: Great song, thanks for reviewing!

Ferretgirlsz: I know! Poor Ronnie, but thanks! :)

SUSHIxMONSTER: First let me say I've always admired your name- being a sushi monster myself ;) But thanks for the song suggestion!

Amela333: I love your reviews, they're always a great! But yes, I know what you mean, it's very sad! But updates are definitely coming again, now that my spring break is over!

Applefangz: Haha, a lot of people would like to punch Steve for being Steve! But I'm glad that you love OFL so much, I don't want you to die without your dosage ;)

Roxy: Thank you, broski ;)

Victoria: YOU LAZY GOOD FOR NOTHI- Just kidding, but- you need to start reading? What's wrong with you? ;P

**Disclaimer:** I only own what I own, I hate doing these so just read what I put in the earlier chapters.

The tears had stopped falling and once my legs had tired from running and refused to take me any further I found myself at a piece of earth that jutted out from the side of one of the smaller cliffs that wasn't even close to those we climbed leading up to the mountain. Since it wasn't as high as all of the others, I was able to put extensive fear of heights to the side, one of my legs pulled into my chest and the other hanging off the side. I felt like my whole body was numb, it felt as though it was humming like battery, the energy just radiating off my of my figure. My arm felt heavy as I lifted and tenderly placed my fingers on my lips where Darren's lips had once been. I relived what had happened so quickly, and relished in the glory that I felt in that moment- my stomach churned inside of me. I felt disgusting, and like the scum of the earth when I also felt the engagement ring on my finger. I now knew why I ran from the mountain, I ran from the mountain because I knew if I stayed I would end up in this position. I couldn't keep myself from Darren, no matter what he did to me- because I was stupid. I was one of those stupid girls that I used to wonder why they did what they did, the ones that you think are blind for not seeing what was in front of them. I was _never_ one of those girls, when a guy would screw me over, that was it. I didn't have to have my friends point out the wrong in the situation and I was never one of those girls who would shake their head and almost laugh in your face as they said 'I don't care what you say, that's what I'm going to do', and then you're at the point of strangling them. I was always smarter than that. But I guess becoming a vampire with someone and going through the things Darren and I went through separates us from the Ken and stupid Barbie in high school who think that they'll grow up and get married. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But fool me once and we've become practically immortal and drink blood and face obstacles together that you couldn't even dream of enduring- whose the shame on?

"Seriously, what did I tell you about your deep thinking? When you get in those moods you start to freak yourself out because you start to change your own mind. Hell, I think you could convince yourself the grass is purple." I nearly jumped out of my skin, because I didn't even hear the footsteps coming up behind me. My heart rate instantly started to descend when I saw it was Kade, her hand was placed on her hip and the other fell at her side. Her eyes were cloudy and the shadows from the night fell on her face making her look even more intimidating. She stood strong, as always and I envied the way she carried herself, almost with the ferocity of Arra Sails- minus half of the bitchiness and weird antics. Her smirk fell almost as fast as my heart rate when I didn't reply with a grin and a smart ass remark. Cassie followed behind her panting heavily and brushing hairs into place,

"I told you to wait for me, I'm not that fast. And I'm not frigging spiderman, I can't scale up rock walls like yo- whats wrong?" Cassie instantly asked once her eyes fell on me. I never was that easy to read, but these two knew me probably better than I knew myself. They were my best friends and obviously it didn't take them long to figure out something was wrong.

"Noth-" I started,

"Don't you dare say nothing, or I'll kick the living shit out of you." Kade's words cut me off, but her tone didn't match the words that came out of her mouth it was soft and concerned.

"I really don't want to talk about it," I answered, half honestly. Truth was, I just didn't want to talk about it when after the first couple of words came out of my mouth and then start bawling crying. Kade and Cassie would proceed to hold me in their arms as I bawled my eyes out and gasped trying to get out all the details- it was too time consuming.

"It was Darren, wasn't it." Cassie, as always, hit the nail right on the head. I shifted my eyes to look away from them and used what seemed to be all the energy in my body to lift myself up off the ground.

"I don't want to talk about it right this minute, okay?" I tried to keep my voice from sounding harsh, "I'll talk to you when I'm ready, just please drop it."

"Of course." Cassie nodded, Kade just shrugged her shoulders.

"We came here to tell you that Mr. Crepsley is awake and you have training now," Cassie began,

"That blows, you come back to your mentor and he instantly puts you right back into training." Kade cut in, Cassie shot her a look because she had obviously forgot there was something that was bothering me. Once again, Kade just shrugged it off.

"Son of a bitch," I groaned, I had totally forgot. The whole Darren incident had happened a little under an hour ago, and now I was going to have to go and stare him right in the face. Can you say awkward?

"C'mon Ron, hop to it!" Kade snickered and I playfully shot her the bird in response. I swear, sometimes I swore Kade was my twin with the smirks and smart ass remarks, it seemed we were always on the same page, it was never time to put up with bullshit on our schedules.

_Darren's Point of View_

I waited anxiously, sitting on one of the rocks that was off to the side of our clearing. It seemed as though the trees disappeared from this area just so that the moonlight could beam down on it, and it was the spot where stars were meant to be laid down and counted. Mr. Crepsley was starting to get impatient, fumbling with his sleeves as Ronnie walked up. My heart almost stopped, she avoided my gaze and I tried to stare at her until I could catch her eye, but she kept her eyes on the ground.

"Veronica, you must be punctual. I am not going to send out a search party every time you have training." Mr. Crepsley quipped, she muttered an apology and her eyes flashed up towards him quicky, I gasped in a slight bit of air as I caught sight of her eyes. The best thing about Ronnie had to be her eyes, they were a brilliant blue and they seemed to stab right through you- especially when something was wrong. But as fast as they were there, they were gone. Throughout our lesson, I had fallen and gotten injured more than any lesson before because I couldn't focus on anything other than Ronnie and the desire to just run up to her and kiss her again. But I couldn't she was with- I couldn't even think about it. It pained me to know that she was no longer mine, and not only was she no longer mine, she was with _Steve._ But Ronnie didn't falter as I did, she jumped, ran and attacked at an intense rate, abiding to anything that Mr. Crepsley barked out at us. She had grown stronger and had gotten insanely quick, she wasn't nessescarily the strongest, but she had the fastest movements and reflexes I had ever seen, she was agile- and almost close to remotely as quick as Mr. Crepsley. There was no way she could be even in our mentor's league, but speed and strategy were her strong points. She was taking out her frustration and anger and sadness on her tasks. I hated the pain that I caused her, I hated that she had to be in pain at all.

_When the world gets too heavy_

_put it on my back, I'll be your levy._

_You are taking me apart_

_Like bad glue on a get well card_

There was nothing worse than knowing that like before I couldn't hold her in my arms and whisper to her that it could be okay. She was facing things all alone- and the thing with Ronnie is she refuses to talk about what really bothers her, and it eats her away inside until she cracks. You don't know what you got until it's gone.

_It was always you falling for me_

_Now there's always time calling for me_

_I'm the light blinking at the end of the road_

_Blink back to let me know_

I was always the one asking for more, the one who needed the help. The one who needed reassurance, the one who wasn't strong enough. But she always was at my side, she was willing to bend over backwards for me and even though I would do the same for it- she never asked me to. I was there when she needed, and I could tell when she was upset and would be at her side until she broke down- but she was always there. Always.

_I'm a fly that's trapped in a web_

_But I'm thinking that my spider's dead_

_Lonely, lonely little life_

_I could kid myself by thinking that I'm fine_

I couldn't go through this without her. The days when she was gone were the darkest days that I had ever endured. I had thought of ending it quickly and finding a clan of Vampaneze and having them rip me to pieces. I tried to keep up the act Mr. Tiny told me to uphold- but inside it was killing me.

_It was always you falling for me_

_Now there's always time calling for me_

_I'm the light blinking at the end of the road_

_Blink back to let me know_

_That I'm skin and bone_

_Just a cane and rusty throne_

_All the castle's under siege_

_But the sign outside says 'leave me alone'_

_It was always you falling for me_

_Now there's always time calling for me_

_I'm the light blinking at the end of the road._

_Blink back to let me know._

All I knew is that if I felt this way about Veronica Dexter, there was no way we could be apart. And I would die before I let her be with Steve, because I knew that wasn't where her heart lied. I knew that it didn't make her happy- it couldn't, because without her I wouldn't have a heart. And without a heart I would just be what she kept me from becoming all these years. An animal. Memories must haunt her sleep like they do mine, thoughts of me must keep her awake at night like the thought of her does to me- right? The pain in my chest was sharp and hard, there's nothing worse than thinking about someone 24/7 and not knowing if they think of you at all. But all I did know, was it was Ronnie or die.

**A/N:** Holy tits, that was a long chapter! Not my best, I think, but I really wanted to use the song because I think it fit perfect to Darren's situation with Ronnie. The next will be more- eventful. So REVIEW, whose gonna be the 200th review! 200... wow.


	22. Taken

**A/N:** I know, I have been bad. So very, _very_ bad for not updating! But it's been summer and I've had a lot going on, okay! I'm in a good mood because I'm going to see PANIC AT THE DISCO tomorrow, yes! I really just hope you guys didn't give up on me and I'll have to work on getting my reviews back up, but hey, I hope I have loyal readers, which I'm sure I do ;)

Larten: How adorable.

Shhh, creps.

A thank you to my _beautiful_ reviewers!

SUSHIxMONSTER: Well, I like your name- I'm definitely a sushi monster ;) Oh Ronnie is very predictable, most of the time...

Ferretgirlsz: Thank you, girl! Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, I promise one day I'm going to go through and spam review all your fics!

Rox/Roxypony: Ah, thank you sis! I'm glad that you were the- holy tits, 200th review? That's so weird to me! But thank you, I always second guess myself writing Kade, but I gues I'm doing alright!

MISSxMAGIC: The enthusiasm in your review seriously got me worked up! You are just so passionate! Thank you!

Amela333: Maybe you can be the 300th! Or let's aim for you to get the lucky 217th review... 17 is my lucky number ;) Thank you!

Celesius: You're a new face! Hi, and thanks for reviewing! Thank you, thank you so much! Your review really made me smile! :)

Victoria: Updating, yes? Yes ;)

Jaa162: No Problem!

Sapphiet: I hope so, too!

**LilBat54:** Thanks for reviewing! :)

Ruler Of The Night: Thank you!

Tex Shadows: Thank you for all the amazing reviews!

_A love of mine once said_

_The best part about you_

_Was me so now who_

_Is judging who? -_ Lie To The Truth, The Young Veins

I'm not going to lie, it hurt. We were about a day or two away from Vampire Mountain, I was glad that I had Cassie and Kayden to keep me company. I would probably drive myself mad with thoughts if they weren't there and weren't able to keep my mind off of Darren, I'm sure Larten would have rather had it that way too.

"Yeaa, woo woo, why you all in my ear?" I sang to myself as we trekked up the mountain.

"-talkin' a whole bunch a shit that I ain't trying to hear!" Kayden smirked, continuing on the song I had began to sing.

"GET BACK MUHFUCK-" Kayden, Cassie and I all yelled obnoxiously in unison before being cut off by Larten.  
"Girls! What is that monstrosity you are attempting to sing?" He quipped, turning around quickly.

"Chill Mr. C, it's Ludacris." I laughed, waving a hand in his direction.

"Indeed it is ludacris!" He growled, his face turning red along with the clothes that draped over his body.

"No, Mr. Crepsley Ludacris is-" Cassie started but she closed her mouth as soon as she opened it, "-nevermind, totally not worth it."

I chuckled and began to hum under my breath as we continued up the mountain. I heard Darren laughing under his breath, the melody instantly made my heart rate pick up and I whipped my head in his direction.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked, trying not to make my voice sound too harsh, but I didn't want it to sound inviting, either. He seemed surprised that I had spoken to him, his deep brown eyes widened and his eyebrows lifted into his hair line as he seemed to search for words. He was so cute when he was dumbfou- cut it out, Ronnie.

"Oh, I was just thinking." He answered, pressing his pockets into his pants and flattening his lips into a straight line. I pursed my lips,

"About?"

"Well," he smiled reflecting on the memory, "remember how mad your dad used to get when you played your music too loud? Well, he reminded me of Mr. Crepsley. And one time your dad grounded you for blaring your music when he was trying to take a nap, and that night I came over so you could sneak out- and your dad woke up and almost shot us because he though someone was trying to break into the house!" I couldn't hide the laughter that grew in the pit of my stomach, I let out a genuine laugh, the sound of it was so new to me, I hadn't laughed like this in such a long time. We were behind the rest of the group so it they didn't notice that Darren and I were both in a frenzy of laughter and stopped our pace.

"You were so scared, I literally thought you were going to cry, and then we jumped into the neighbors dog and were attacked by a swarm of yorkies!" I gasped between breaths, which only made Darren and I laugh even harder. When we got ahold of ourselves, I ran my fingers underneath my eyes, wiping away the happy tears that clouded my vision.

"Heh, those were good times." Darren said with a sigh.

"Yeah, they _were_." I snapped, anger suddenly burning in the pit of my chest.

"I wish more than anything that this didn't happen to us..." Darren whispered, looking at the scars on his fingertips.

"_You_ are the one who did this to us, Darren!" I growled, straightening my posture.

"I didn't mean to!" Darren yelled back. I blinked in surprise, this was the first time that he ever really argued back with me. "You act like this is all my fault! Well it's not! I didn't ask you to become a vampire too! You act like I _wanted_ this to happen! Like I _wanted_ us to both be the undead!"

"Well you're the one who turned us into this!"

"Into _WHAT?" _

"Into two people who don't love each other anymore! You made it so I can't even look at you!" Darren had gotten close to me in the heat of our argument, I saw the anger erase from his eyes faster than it appeared.

"I never said I didn't love you." he said in monotone.

"Yes, you did."

"It's complicated. I lied, I wish I could tell you, Ronnie. I really wish I could. I do love you, Ronnie, more than anything in this world."

"How can I believe a liar?"

"I can't expect you to believe me, and if I could tell you, you'd understand. But I can't you need to believe me when I say that I can't, not right now, atleast."

"I would never lie to you, or keep something from you. That's why I'm with Steve now, he doesn't lie to me. And tell me he loves me when he doesn't." I knew that I hurt him by saying that, but I had to hurt him in an attempt to get back at him for how much he hurt me. But I think knowing that I caused him pain, hurt worse than anything in the past. My thoughts were interrupted by the overpowering scent of blood, my stomach grumbled because I hadn't fed in the past week or so, but this blood was too familiar.

"Do you smell that?" Darren asked, snapping his head in my direction. Before I could reply I thrusted myself into motion, running towards the scent of the blood. Larten, Gavner and Kade were all standing there breathing heavily and looking as though they had just wrestled and rolled around on the floor for the past 20 minutes.

"What's wrong?" I growled. Kade just looked at me with eyes full of pain and frustration,

"They took Cassie."


	23. Just Friends

**A/N:** Uhm, hey... guys. I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY that I haven't reviewed. Like seriously, sometimes when I go like two weeks without updating OFL I get like anxiety- but I've had a lot going on with me, so it's kind of like it needed to happen. Because now I'm back! If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll want to check out RoxyPony and I's new story _Innocent_ and of course Viva Las Vampires, which I'll probably get to after this ;)

_Thank you to all my beautiful reviewers, I will address you all in the next chapter!_

Disclaimer: I only own what I own! Which is Ronnie! You know who the other characters belong to.

_I couldn't find lyrics for this_

_chapter, so sing this little tune_

_to yourself and imagine it is_

_relevant~_

"Who did WHAT?" I growled, letting my hands turn into fists at my sides. I honestly needed to get in control of my temper, because from how frequently angry I was getting with Darren and now this- I was seriously going to have a heart attack. If that's even possible for vampires.

"Charna's guts, we told Evra we'd keep her safe." Darren moaned from beneath his hands that covered his face.

"Why wasn't she kept safe, Kade?" I asked, turning my eyes on her.

"Listen, you know I'm always down to kick some vampaneze butt. But I- I fell asleep." she answered, mumbling down to her feet.  
"Well, who took her? Why must I ask all of these questions, why is no one just telling me?" I shouted, looking over at Mr. Crepsley.

"Do not demand answers from me, Veronica. I am still your superior and I will be treated with respect!" I winced at the tone of his voice and sighed, looking over at Darren who must have been used to it now, more than me. Darren... I snapped back my thoughts, my best friend was missing and I kind of had an idea who had taken her.

"Was it Anastasia?" I growled, thinking of the vampaneze who we had encountered a couple of months ago.

"Bingo." Kade mumbled once again. I sighed, leaning into my hip and pinching the bridge of my nose in between my fingers. I had no idea where they would have taken her, and there was nothing that I could think of that could give me a solid lead.

"How are we supposed to find her?" Darren asked, finally speaking up and seeming as though he had pulled the question from my thoughts.  
"Wait, Veronica-", Larten said standing up and walking over to me and putting his hands on my shoulders, "didn't you say that you and Cassandra can sometimes talk to each other through dreams?"

"So we're going to have to WAIT until Ronnie dazes off, and then HOPE that she has one of those weird little dreams? She could be DEAD by then." Kade finally exploded, I smirked to myself seeing that we were more like sisters than I thought- she couldn't keep her temper in check as well.

"There is no other choice." Larten answered.

"No other choice." I answered, pressing my lips into a straight line.

The sun was coming up, and Larten and Kade had already fallen asleep. It shocked me that I was no longer able to doze off the way I used to. It was probably because I always had so much on my mind, that I could no longer fall asleep anywhere- even sitting up. And the fact that I was always on edge and feeling that I was going to be attacked really didn't help the sleeping environment either. I also hadn't slept as well as I had when I did in Darren's arms. The weight of our situation honestly felt like each and every day it crushed me more and more. It laid on my chest and made it hard to breathe.

"Darren," I breathed out, my arms wrapped around my knees that were pulled into my chest and kept my eyes on the sun as it was coming up and making the sky a various spectrum of colors.

"Yeah?" He asked, walking over slowly, hands in his pockets.

"I really wish that we could fix things, more than anything. I wish that I could forgive you, I wish that I could just forget what happened and believe what you say to me." I said quietly, it made me disgusted at how weak and fragile my voice sounded. I heard Darren sit down next to me, his eyes wandering over to mine.

"Then why can't you?" he said, scooting closer to me so that we could whisper to each other audibly.

"Because I just _can't_ Darren. You don't understand, that's not the type of person I am. I'm not going to set myself up, just to get hurt again." Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

"I think that- maybe we can just be friends."

"You know we can't just be friends, Ronnie. It'll hurt even more."  
"It's either we can be friends, and I can try to learn and trust you, or I'll go on trying to hate you for the rest of my life... my extremely long life." Darren looped his arm around my side and I laid my head on his shoulder out of pure exhaustion.  
"Alright, friends." And that's where I fell asleep.

"_R-Ronnie." I heard Cassie's voice choke out, she was trying to fight back tears. I couldn't see where she was, only hear her voice._

"_Cassie! Where are you, are you okay?"  
"I'm okay, I've been better. You need to come back to the city, that's where they're keeping me."_

"_What city, Cass. There's more than just a couple."_

"_The one where we found you, with Steve..." her voice trailed off, and I smiled to myself. I knew that once I got into the city, I could find her fairly easily because it wasn't as big as any of the other over populated areas. _

"_But Ronnie, he's he-"_

"Ronnie! Wake up! You're mumbling that you found Cassie!" Kade smiled, shaking me awake.  
"Yeah! But you woke up up a LITTLE too soon!"


	24. Fixed At Zero

**A/N: **Well hello! Here's another update, I'm proud to say that I took a little DSS vacation- which RoxyPony and I seem to do frequently... but I'm back! Because I missed my little darebear. So I'll be getting more things up and written! This may be the second to last chapter under this book- but its' amazing how many reviews it's gotten. Thank you SO MUCH to anyone who reviewed or has taken apart of it in any way. SO, here we go!

_Thank you to my beautiful reviewers... the number I got last time was a teeeny bit disappointing- but I know you guys can do better, so let's do it!_

* * *

_"There's a vulture on my shoulder, and he's telling me to give in. Always hissing right in my ear, like it's coming from my own head."- Fixed At Zero, VersaEmerge._

* * *

Kade laid in the hotel room, the soft sounds of breathing filling the silence. She smiled as she heard Ronnie's faint snores in perfect harmony with Mr. Crepsley- this used to keep her awake, but she thankfully got used to the snoring sleepers. Sitting up slowly, she propped her weight on her elbows and scanned her eyes around the room. She smirked when she saw that Ronnie found her way closer to Darren on the couch, even though they had fallen asleep at opposite corners. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep, she sat up, sliding on a pair of cowboy boots and ruffling a hand through her polished straight locks and shutting the door slowly behind her.

"Hello there, Kayden." She froze at the voice, she couldn't keep the goosebumps from appearing on her skin.

"Desmond." She spat back, not turning around to face him. She heard him chuckle under his breath as he walked around slowly to be in her view.

"How are my projects doing?" He snickered, Kade grinded her teeth together.

"Your _what?_" she spat, her hands forming into fists at her side.

"Veronica and Darren." he said, raising his eyebrows. "I see that Ronnie is doing well- actually, not well to her standards. But perfectly well to mine."

"You sick bastard." Kade growled, Desmond only grew more amused at this and fondled with the chain of his watch.

"Well, I'm sure that Arrow had told you that there may be a time that you must- dispose of Veronica." Desmond started, and his smile grew even wider when Kade's eyes fell slightly. "Now, there's two scenarios. Depending on certain... variables. Let me show you my favorite outcome." he leaned forward and pressed two fingers against her forehead and Kade fell into the darkness.

_Blood stained the floor of the cave, many warriors were strewn over the floor- moaning and grasping wounds and trying to keep the flow of blood from seeping out of them. Darren watched with his teeth gritted, watching in horror as Ronnie held a young snakeboy in her grasp. _

"_Ronnie! Why are you doing this!" He cried out, she just smiled sadistically and raised a manicured brow. Her normally light blue eyes were wild and dangerous. _

"_Oh, now you care, don't you, Darren?" she teased, running her fingers through the snake-child's hair._

"_Just kill him, already!" Steve barked from behind her, she whipped her head in his direction, baring her teeth._

"_Shut up, Leonard! You listen to _my _orders, do you understand? Your chance when you fucked up and lied to me". Steve just rolled his eyes and stepped back, muttering inaudibly to himself. _

"_We'll kill him, we'll kill darius!" Darren snapped, holding the small boy in his grasp. Ronnie's eyebrows lifted into her hairline, and then she shrugged,_

"_Do it."_

"_Dad! Help me!" Darius cried to Steve, who only sneered in response._

"_Oh but Darren, how will you do it, maybe like, this?" She finished, using her hands to quickly snap the small snake boy's neck and let out a loud cackle._

"I've had enough of this scenario," Desmond's voice chimed through Kade's head, "let's take a look at one more."

_Mr. Crepsley hung over the railing, hanging onto a large chain that was his only lifeline keeping him away from the stakes beneath him. Ronnie stood beside Steve, her blonde hair ruffled and clothes stained with blood. Many gashes and wounds had found their way into her body, but she still stood tall. Steve let out a wail as the weight of Mr. Crepsley caused the chain to tighten around his right hand and send him falling over towards the railing. Steve wailed out wildly the pair falling to their demise when Ronnie leaned forward, and caught Steve's flailing left hand. Gannen Harst came behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist to keep the girl from falling over the edge along with them. _

"_Let go!" Steve screamed, kicking out at Mr. Crepsley, "You'll kill us both!" _

"_This is what I meant to do!" Mr. Crepsley roared._

"_Let go Mr. C- I mean! Let go you gingered idiot!" Ronnie growled, sweat beading from her forehead. "I can't hold on any longer!" _

_Mr. Crepsley started saying his goodbyes to the ones beneath him, when Steve used all of his strength to pull himself up Ronnie's arm. She let out a relieved sigh as they got Steve's top half over the railing, Mr. Crepsley held firmly onto his ankles and then let go and grasped the edge. Ronnie stepped forward and pressed the toe of her boot onto his fingers. _

"_Now, where do you think you're going?" She grinned, looking upon her old mentor's face._

"_Veronica, what happened to you?" He said, gritting his teeth together._

"_I learned." she said, thrusing her foot out to the cliff's edge, making Larten Crepsley's life soley rely on the grip of his left hand. She pressed her toe on his other set of fingers, and leaned down towards him._

"_Ronnie! Don't! Please!" Darren cried. She ignored his voice and leaned forward to his ear._

"_Even in death, may you be triumphant." She whispered, before kicking her foot out once again and sending Mr. Crepsley to his death._

"What a show, what a show!" Mr. Tiny clapped, smiling wildly. Tears had formed in Kade's eyes and she leaned against the wall in the hallway of the hotel, sliding down to be seating on the floor.

"H-h-ho-" she tried to stammer out, but Mr. Tiny just wagged a finger at her.

"Now you see why you may have to kill her, yes?" he chortled, Kade just buried her head in her hands. Mr. Tiny looked to his watch and clicked his tongue,

"I better be going, have a nice evening, Kayden." And with that, he vanished into the shadows. Kade let the tears fall from her eyes, something that was a very rare occurrence. The evil in her eyes, the way she cackled wildly, she was pure evil. But that wasn't Ronnie- she was like her sister, there was no way that she could become that way. She had said that she learned, that she was lied to. But what could send her to go so far off the edge, hadn't her and Cassie tried to stop her? The door clicked open, and no one other than Veronica Dexter shuffled down the hallway, leaning down to her friend and placing her hand on her shoulder.

"Kadey, what's wrong?" She asked, alarmed. Her eyebrows were threaded and her long blonde hair fell into her eyes.

"N-n-nothing. Just a really bad dream, a bad dream... please, be a bad dream."

* * *

_"It's got me mixed up, trying not to give up. Tell me there's a way to get out of here. Oh, fixed at zero."_


	25. Famous Last Words

**A/N:** Well this hasn't happened in a while, has it? I got an amazing response from the last chapter, and before I go out of town tomorrow, I decided to be oh so nice, and give you another chapter! The song that I used in the beginning and end of this chapter, is probably one of Ronnie's theme songs, because it fits so well! So, here we go!

_Thank you to my BEAUTIFUL reviewers **PrincessOfTheVampires, Christineexx, RoxyPony, xTeamShanx, Ferretgirlsz, MISSxMAGIC, FutureStar27 and SUSHIxMONSTER**_

* * *

_So many bright lights to cast a shadow, but can I speak?_

_Well, is it hard understanding I'm incomplete?_

_A life that's so demanding, I get so weak_

_A love that's so demanding, I can't speak -Famous Last Words, My Chemical Romance_

* * *

"Kayden, what's wrong?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows together and leaning closer to her. It was rare to see Kade like this, and it really made me nervous. She looked up at me shakily and nodded her head, almost instantly her calm and cool facade returned and she was the Kade that I always saw. It was almost scary how quickly she had changed, and hid her feelings. The scarier part of it is how I knew I did the same thing most of the time.

"It's nothing," she coughed, standing up and grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me up with her, "the sun is about to go down, so we need to go save Cassie!" I nodded in agreement, knowing that even if I prodded and tried to get it out of her, Kade wouldn't tell me. When we arrived back into the hotel room, Larten was already awake and leaning over Darren shaking him awake.  
"We are only about an hour or two away from our destination. I hope that you are all ready." Larten said steadily. Kade rocked back and forth on her heels, cracking her knuckles,

"I was born ready. I'm ready to kick some vampaneze ass!". Darren walked up beside me and gave me a small smile, this whole friends thing was somewhat working out. Even though I tried to look at him as just a friend, my heart totally fucked me over and did flips in my chest. But my head was too stubborn to let it become anything.

"Are you nervous?" He asked quietly, sliding on a jacket.

"Kind of." I breathed honestly.

"Don't worry, Cassie is going to be fine." he said, placing a hand on my shoulder and giving it a firm squeeze.

"She fucking better be." I answered, pulling away from his grip and following Larten and Kade out of the door.

"I say we just bust in there, and then slap the dumbfounded look off of their faces!" Kade whispered in a hushed tone. We were posted outside of the building where they held Cassie. We had followed a vampaneze that we had seen walking on the street and they had undoubtedly lead us to the spot where they held her captive. With my hearing, through the walls I could hear Cassie choking back tears. My heart felt like it was going to be pulled out of my chest.

"Will you quit your whining?" I heard Anastasia snap from inside the walls.

"Let's just go!" I agreed, walking up to the door and kicking it down with the heel of my shoe. I saw Cassie, tied up to a chair. Tears were pooled up in her eyes, and she was covered in crimson. Anastasia leaned over her, a dagger dancing around along her fingers.

"Well, well. I wondered how long it would take for you to get here." She grinned, lunging at me with all of her speed. She pinned me to the wall and laughed maliciously. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Kade fighting one of her vampaneze counterparts, laughing triumphantly as he fell to the ground lifeless.

"Let her go, you crazy bitch!" I snapped, throwing her back into the cabinets of the small apartment. She jumped up quickly and started to throw jabs and kicks at me, our nails aiming at eachother's throat. Slamming into one of the makeshift tables, it collapsed on the floor beneath me.

"We better make this fast, don't want to wake the neighbors." Anastasia cackled leaning over me. I used my foot to project her away from me- but once again we were wrestling on the floor when I heard the only voice that would put me off guard.

"Let's stop this fighting now, we got them here, let's not waste anymore time."

"But why can't I kill her?" Anastasia whined.

"Because you _cant!_" The voice boomed. Tears already started to well in my eyes as Anastasia left from ontop of me and I saw the source of the voice.

"Steve." I stammered, standing up even though my legs beneath me felt like pools of jello.

"Ronnie..." he started, walking towards me. He lifted a hand to reach towards my face, but I slapped it away viciously. I saw Kade exchange glances with Darren, eyes wide.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice squeaking off at the end. I despised how weak I sounded, no matter how strong I tried to be.

"You couldn't understand. You know I love you." He said apologetically.

"_Love_ me? What is with you people? Is there another type of love that I don't know about?" I growled, tears clouding my vision. "Why, Steve? Why?"

"Because, I was following orders. I'm a vampaneze, Ronnie. And once I knew that you weren't going to come to my side, I decided to stop hiding it from you. I mean, you are kind of stupid not seeing it sooner. I _proposed_ to you, and you still left me. That showed me that you were still in love with stupid Shan, and I wouldn't be able to change you." His words hit me right in the gut, how had this happened? His eyes didn't glimmer the same, the danger that I found so alluring was now _real_ danger. He was evil. I ripped the wedding ring off of my finger and threw it straight at his face. He started to lunge forward at me, but another vampaneze grabbed his arm.

"You know you cannot kill her, _he_ would be very upset."

"Whatever, Gannen." He looked over at Cassie and motioned to her, "you can take her. Anastasia wont be anymore of a problem. I just needed a way to lure you here, anyways."

"What! But she's my favorite prey." Anastasia pouted.

"You're going to _leave_ _her alone._" Steve growled once again. Anastasia just bit her lip and walked out of the room, with Gannen and the other surviving vampaneze following behind them. Before shutting the door behind him, Steve turned around and gave me a apologetic glance.  
"This had to be done, Ronnie. I just wish you would have chosen my side- I would love to rule the world with you at my side."  
"Go fuck yourself, dickwad." And with that, Steve Leonard was gone. My heart felt as though all the bandaids that had repaired it once again had fallen apart- and the hurt overwhelmed me, I almost felt as though I was going to throw up. I was never going to depend on anyone ever again, ever. My mind was going in a million different directions, but that wasn't what I was worried about. It was Cassie.

"Cassie, Cassie!" I panicked, rushing over to her and removing the gauze from out of her mouth. Cassie was exceptionally tough, especially after all the training Kade had given the at the mountain, so I didn't understand why she was crying so hard. Sure, they probably had tortured her, and I don't blame her. But I didn't understand why she was bawling.

"What's wrong, Cass? Did they really torture you that much?" I whispered as she ducked into my arms, crying into my shoulder.  
"It's not me I'm worried about." She sobbed into my chest.

"What do you mean?"  
"I'm pregnant."

* * *

_Can you see my eyes are shining bright_

_Cause I'm out here on the other side_

_Of a jet black hotel mirror and I'm so weak_

_Is it hard understanding I'm incomplete?_

* * *

**REVIEW PLEASE, THEY MAKE ME SO HAPPY:)**


	26. Gotta Be You

**A/N:** Well hello there, guys! I know, I know, I've literally been gone for like ever. But sometimes life happens and a lot of shit happened to me. I'd rather not go into detail, but I went into a really dark place and was lost for a good amount of time... but now I'm back to my old self! Honestly, this is probably going to be really hard, because I have no fucking clue where I was going with this story, but I'm going to try my best to keep going and finish this for you guys, and for myself! I'm sorry if this chapter is absolutely terrible, I'm trying to get back into it so give me a chance. So, let's give it a try.

"_Girl I see it in your eyes you're disappointed_

'_Cause I'm the foolish one that you anointed with your heart_

_I tore it apart_

_And girl what a mess I made upon your innocence_

_And no woman in the world deserves this_

_But here I am asking you for one more chance_

_Can we fall one more time?_

_Stop the tape and rewind_

_Oh and if you walk away I know I'll fade_

'_Cause there is nobody else."_

_Ronnie's POV_

"What?" My hands seemed as though they couldn't move fast enough and they seemed to forget how to work as I fumbled with the ropes that covered her body, crimson blood staining my hands. The desire started to build in my brain and warm saliva pooled in the back of my throat.

"I'm pregnant," Cassie cried, holding her stomach and locking her arms around my neck. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around her, the smell of her blood coating around me. "What if he's not okay, Ron, what if they killed my baby?"

"I don't- I..." I started, her smell intoxicating my mind, my eyes rolled back into my head and before I knew it, my lips were laid on her neck, teeth sinking into her veins. It was only a couple of seconds before I felt myself being thrown back and the cracking of my body into the wall behind me.

"Ronnie, what the fuck!" Kade growled, holding me back into the wall by my neck. I shook my head, opening my eyes to see everyone looking at me through a new set of eyes. Horror, disgust, terror. The look Cassie gave me almost ripped me completely in half, her hand pressed against the wound, trying to hold back the flow of blood that spilled through her fingers.

"I-I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened..." I started, tears pooling up in my eyes, I shook my way from Kade's grip and ran.

_Kade's POV_

It had been months since we had seen Ronnie. Luckily, we were able to get Cassie to a hospital in time, and months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Shancus, who was named after Darren. We had no idea where Ronnie had ran to, our guesses were that she was either running around, ripping people to shreds, or wallowing around somewhere. We had tried everywhere to find her, looking at her favorite spots- we even stopped and looked for her in her hometown, but there was no sight of here. Even though we were all worried, Steve and the vampaneze had to be stopped with whatever they were up to. Cassie's guilt got her for a couple of days, until she was reassured that it was Ronnie's bloodlust getting ahold of her and there was nothing she could have done to stop it, so she decided to stay at the Cirque and raise her son in one of the safest places she could think of. We all sat at a table in Vampire Mountain, drinking our ale, like sitting ducks.

"This is killing me," I started, slamming my fist down on the table, "Ronnie is gone, we don't even know if she's alive, or what's going on. We have no idea what Steve and the Vampaneze are doing and all we know is that it's no good, and there's nothing we can do about it!"

"Kayden, if there was something we could do, you know we would be doing it." Larten sighed with a shake of his ginger head, he looked over at Darren, who was engulfed in some sort of text given to him by the fellow princes, some sort of pre-emptive attack on the vampaneze, when Seba walked into the dining hall.

"Darren," he started "There is something we've found that you might want to see."

"What is it!" I interjected, only getting a disapproving glance from Seba.

"It is not something for you to see yet." Seba answered, and I blew a piece of hair out of my face in frustration, "it's probably something gay anyway."

"A homosexual?" Larten interjected, "I doubt there would be a homosexual in Vampire Mountain, Kayden. You are absolutely absurd." Darren ignored, our banter and pulled himself to stand, following Seba to one of the chambers deep in the back on the mountain.

_Ronnie's POV_

Darkness. No matter where I turned, it found a way to consume my heart and my thoughts. I was absolutely ashamed, and couldn't get myself to do anything. I ran as far away as I could, barely feeding to keep myself alive, because all I felt was shame- every time the blood entered my mouth I could still taste Cassie. Scars ornamented my arms from the attempts to end my life, and bruises covered my body in punishment for being such a coward to not end my worthless life. I didn't know who I was, I was lost completely. My hair was wiry and unruly, and my bones protruded from all angles, due to lack of nutrition. I laid in the shadows day after day, waiting for something to happen, hoping for someone to come along and be merciful enough to end my life for me. I had come across a drug dealer and stole his stash of sleeping pills. It takes hours to drag myself out of dreams. No, days. Hours or days or weeks. I can't tell. I don't know how many pills I've took. Everything hurts. Worms are gnawing on my cuts, through my joints, inside my ugly bones. My heart runs rabbitfast, then lies in the dirt to hibernate. I wait everyday to not wake up. But that's not what happened. I tried my best to go undetected, but when a vampire general stumbled upon me, they didn't hesitate to grab me and shackle me and take me back to the Mountain where I was going to have to face the people I desperately didn't want to face again. Each second felt like a million years as I waited, I knew that he would be coming, and I didn't know how I would handle it. I heard the footsteps coming from down the hall before they were even close to the door, and braced myself.

"Darren-" My voice was weak and cracked, the sound of it was foreign to me, because I had not uttered a word in months, it sounded unnatural.

"Oh, Ronnie." He was at my side in a second, wrapping his arms around me, his fingers running down my back, playing my ribcage like a xylophone.

"Please, get away from me." I pleaded, trying to push him off of me. I didn't deserve this, I deserved to be taken back here, punished and thrown into the pit of stakes. I didn't want him to want me, I didn't want this, "Please."

"No, god damn it!" He growled, grabbing my face roughly in his hands and forcing my eyes to meet his, "I'm so sorry, Ronnie. Why can't you understand that? Why can't you see that you're allowed to make mistakes, it doesn't make you a bad person. We all make them."

"I _bit_ Cassie, that's not just a mistake! I feel it inside me Darren, there's something in me and it's not good. I'm not good, I don't deserve the time and effort! Why can't anyone just kill me? I just want to die." My voice shook and my sentences slurred, the rage filled my body, I screamed and thrashed against Darren, desperately trying to get out of the cage of my body. I threw punches at him, and he stood as still as a statue, taking all of my hits and blows, keeping his arms wrapped around me. My blood pressure started to lower, and my breathing slowed, and the flow of tears started to stop.

"Ronnie, please... I love you so much. No matter what you do, I'll be here- I'm here right now!"

"I'm broken, Darren."

"Let me fix you." I lifted my eyes to his, he looked exactly the same, but his eyes were old and aged. My hand raised to the side of his face, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth which was drawn from my rage and closed my eyes, slowly connecting my lips to his.

_I'll be here, by your side_

_No more fears, no more crying_

_But if you walk away_

_I know I'll fade_

_Cause there is nobody else_

_It's gotta be you_

_Only you_

_It's got to be you_

_Only you_


End file.
